MALI coach Patrice Carteron has given the goalkeeping gloves to Soumaila Diakite, a man he believes will give them an advantage should the quarterfinal clash with South Africa go to penalties.

Lanky first-choice goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa, who stands at 1,97m, is suspended for Saturday's encounter, opening the door for the 1,84m Diakite to stand between the sticks. The other choice is Aly Yirango.

Bafana Bafana have only ever been asked to go to a penalty shootout once. That was at the Nations Cup in Ghana when they won a third-place play-off 4-3 against Tunisia after scores were tied at 2-2.

Now that the tournament has entered the knockout stage, the possibility of a shootout is an element that Bafana coach Gordon Igesund must also pay close attention to. While Bafana's Itumeleng Khune is no mug at stopping penalties, Carteron's choice is a warning that South Africa's penalty takers should do their homework before the do-or-die encounter.

"I have two very good goalkeepers. It was hard for me to decide but I've chosen the younger one. Soumaila is a very good goalkeeper and he is undefeated at penalties, so South Africa must win before the penalty (shootout)," boasted Carteron at a light training session in Chatsworth yesterday. He downplayed Mali's physical advantage, especially in midfield where most of their players are tall machines.

The balance of probability was tilted in favour of the home side, he said.

"I don't think we have a physical advantage. I've watched all the games of this competition and I've said that South Africa, for me, is the team that is best prepared in the competition. We can see that the coach knows all their players; they are fantastic physically and they run a lot. They won't have any problems physically just because we are tall. They are different and there are other interesting things in their game."

Carteron was relieved to announce that former Liverpool hard man Mohamed Sissoko was fit.