Bafana Bafana are ready to put up the fight of their lives when they face Mali in an Afcon quarterfinal tie at a sold-out Moses Mabhida Stadium tomorrow night.

Gordon Igesund’s motivational skills will also be on full display in a match that could turn out to be a bruising affair.

If the fire and determination displayed by striker Lehlohonolo Majoro is anything to go by, the coach’s passion and pure bullheadedness may already have rubbed off on his players.

Majoro, whose team enter this contest as underdogs, yesterday insisted he was ready to play, despite not having received a clean bill of health.

The 25-year-old striker received stitches to a cut on his leg shortly after coming on from the bench to score Bafana’s second goal in their 2-0 victory against Angola.

“I feel fit and in my opinion I am ready to play. But the doctor still has to confirm that. I am quite happy right now and my fingers are crossed,” he said.

The Major, as the Kaizer Chiefs fans have baptised him, also set the record straight with regards to the team’s goal scoring drought. Of the four Bafana goals so far in the tournament, just one has come from a forward – Majoro.

“I wouldn’t say this is about the strikers only. In my view, the defenders and midfielders are also a part of it because football is a team sport. If they (the strikers) can help out in defence when the team is under pressure, then it shouldn’t be a problem if the defenders score,” he said.

Only five players, in a Malian team of 28, stand below 1.8m, which Majoro’s teammate, Thuso Phala, downplayed as a factor.

Phala and his teammates will have to rely on their mobility to outsmart the Malians, and having delivered solid performances in the tournament so far, he should find this task up his alley.

“They are big boys, tall and very strong, but it is not about the height. I think it is about what a team does with the ball on the field of play, it is about who wants it more. But Mali are not third on the continent for nothing” he said.

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