Bafana Bafana attacker Oswin Appollis is confident his team can defeat South Sudan in their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, despite the absence of key players like Ronwen Williams and Pery Tau.

Bafana will face South Sudan at Juba Stadium on Tuesday (15:00), without their injured captain Williams and vice-captain Tau. In their opening qualifier, they drew 2-2 with Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Friday, with Appollis causing problems for the visitors before being hampered by a lack of match fitness.

Velie Mothwa, who started in goal for that match, made a costly error, misjudging a ball that slipped through his fingers into the net. However, Bafana managed to salvage a draw thanks to a late goal from Thalente Mbatha.

Appollis, who is keen to leave his club Polokwane City, believes that the current Bafana squad is capable of achieving success.

“The group we have at the moment is a very strong group, everyone is capable of doing well for the national team,” said Appollis at the press conference on Monday. 

“There’s a reason why [coach] chose this squad that we have now with us that they’re very strong. The absences of Tau and Ronwen are not here, but the group we have here is capable enough to get us the three points.” 

Juba Stadium, which underwent renovations thanks to the FIFA Forward Programme and $5 million is said to have been spent, is a synthetic pitch, a surface unfamiliar to South African players.

Appollis, however, is not concerned about this, having trained on the pitch on Monday. He said, “Compared to the fields we have in South Africa, it’s different. It’s an astroturf, but it’s a well-maintained pitch and we’ll adapt eventually.”