Bafana seeded for World Cup

BAFANA Bafana will be seeded when the 2014 Fifa World Cup draw is conducted in Brazil as they remain ranked among the top 10 in Africa.

The 2010 World Cup hosts dropped two places yesterday in the Fifa rankings, from 47th to 49th, which did not come as a surprise.

Bafana have not played a match since securing a creditable goalless draw with Egypt in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Cairo on June 5.

However, Bafana are still seventh on the continent, which guarantees that they will be seeded at the 2014 World Cup draw in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

The South Africans will avoid African powerhouses Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Algeria and Tunisia, who are also in the top 10.

Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane attributed the team's dip to their failure to play Fifa-sanctioned friendlies.

The biggest beneficiaries in the latest Fifa rankings are the South American countries that took part in the Copa America, the popular regional tournament that ended on Sunday.

Some of the biggest movers in the Fifa rankings come from the region.

Tournament winners Uruguay moved up 13 places to fifth position in the world, while runners-up Paraguay moved up six places to 26th spot. Chile are 11th after moving up 16 places.

"We need to play and win matches and I'm happy we are playing Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone soon," Mosimane said. "We will use those three matches to resume the process of going back to the top of the rankings.

"It is good that we are still in the top 10 on the continent as this will help us a great deal when the 2014 World Cup draw is conducted on Saturday."

Deputy captain Siphiwe Tshabalala said: "We are naturally disappointed but the fact of the matter is that we have not been playing lately. Our aim is to see Bafana Bafana once more being No 1 in Africa and well inside the top 20 on the Fifa rankings, starting with Burkina Faso at Ellis Park Stadium on August 10.

"The current team wants to emulate the Class of 1996, who were No 16 in the world and No 1 on the continent."