Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba has said he has researched Senegal‚ but that his side need to concentrate on their own strong and weak points rather than focus too much on the opposition.

South Africa meet Senegal in a crucial World Cup qualifier at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday (3pm) where not just Bafana’s Russia 2018 chances might be on the line‚ but perhaps also Mashaba’s job.

Having failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations because of poor results in their opening two matches‚ Bafana can scarcely afford a loss at home against a strong Senegal.

“I want to put it here to people – we don’t start preparing for a team when we are playing them the next week‚ ” Mashaba said on Tuesday.

“Immediately when we get the fixtures from Caf and Fifa we start looking around‚ searching for information.

“If I could show you my cellphone – it’s full of the Senegal games.

“They’ve played three games recently – I can’t remember the names [of the opponents] – but we’ve been watching those‚ we’ve seen dangerous players and their strong points. And what we need to work on.

“But it is dangerous to focus on the opposition and forget our strong and our weak points. We’ve got to also focus on ourselves and see where we are strong‚ and how we can dismantle their weak points.

“The good thing is we have a clean bill of health – none of the players have indicated an injury.”

Senegal qualified for the Gabon 2017 Afcon with a 100 percent win record.

Lions of Teranga coach Aliou Cisse has included European-based stars such as dangerous strikers Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke City)‚ Sadio Mane (Liverpool) and Diao Balde Keita (Lazio) in his squad.

Mashaba drew criticism in Bafana’s failed Afcon campaign for failing to research opposition teams.

SA started their 2018 campaign with a 1-1 draw away against Burkina Faso last month. Senegal beat Cape Verde Islands 2-0 at home.