Czech Republic defender Jaroslav Zelený has revealed what they expect from Bafana Bafana ahead of facing them this week.
Both sides are preparing for their meeting, which takes place on Thursday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the USA, with kick-off scheduled for 18:00.
Bafana lost their first game 2-0 at the hands of tournament co-hosts Mexico, while Czechia suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Korea.
Zelený says he believes the game against Bafana will be completely different from what the South Korea outing presented.
The 33-year-old believes that while the Koreans relied heavily on speed, the South African team is more physical.
“The opponent will be typologically different. Korea had a lot of speed, South Africa has more power players,” he told the Czech national team website.
“I think the game will be a little more physical. I saw their first crazy match. Not that they would completely rush into the press and it would be a real duel.
“It was the opening match, so maybe one team was waiting to see what the other would do. They are in a similar situation to us, and they didn’t score a goal, so they are a little worse off.”
Zelený confidently stated they want to prepare better than South Africa and go on to win the match on the day.
“At the moment they are in last place, and they will perceive it the same way we do. It will be either or. As soon as they don’t do something to us, it will be a dead end for them. We need to prepare better than them and win the match.”
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