Coach of Ghana’s 2022 World Cup qualifying group opponents South Africa, Molefi Ntseki says his country have been handed a tough draw.

The Bafana Bafana will be battling recent bogey side Ghana as well as fellow Southern African country Zimbabwe and perennial underachievers Ethiopia for the single slot to progress to the final qualifying phase.

But Molefi mentioned that is not going to be easy for his side as all the teams in the group are strong.

“Every draw is a tough one, because the expectation is that every team left in the top 40 is playing to be at the World Cup,” Ntseki stated on Wednesday.

“We are fully aware of Ghana and their qualities, we are fully aware of Zimbabwe, our neighbours, and Ethiopia. They did well to win their preliminary qualifier against Lesotho to be in the last 40.

“All the teams deserve to be at this stage. It will be a tough one.”

Ghana’s qualities are well known, but Zimbabwe and Ethiopia will also present mighty challenges for Bafana. Though Ntseki says their familiarity does being some advantage.

“We are talking of a South African national team here, we are not talking of club football. Most of the players from Zimbabwe are playing in South Africa.

“The good thing about it is that we can profile the players week in, week out,” he says.

“With Ethiopia, we are aware what has happened in the past, but we are talking about a different national team with different players and a different technical team.

“It is for us to do our best whenever we play those opponents. To qualify you have to beat your opponents, you have to play your ‘A’ game. We give both teams the respect they deserve.”

The last time South Africa qualified for the World Cup was in 2002 where they were bundled out from the group stage.