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Bafana Bafana should be playing Germany not Zambia - Barker
The 76-year-old mentor doesn't think South Africa will benefit from facing Chipolopolo on Sunday
Former Bafana Bafana coach Clive Barker doesn't think Molefi Ntseki's charges will gain anything from this international break due to the calibre of the opponents they chose.
South Africa played Namibia on Thursday, drawing the match 1-1 and they will come up against Zambia in their second game.
Coach Ntseki said the reason they went for Namibia and Zambia was that the two nations play similar football to next month's opponents Sao Tome, whom they will face in back-to-back matches in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
However, Barker doesn't Namibia and Zambia are strong enough opponents for Bafana and feels Ntseki's men would have benefitted from playing top countries such as Germany.
He also believes the reason the country's FA chose their opponents from Cosafa region was that they were scared of being humiliated on the field, especially after being inactive for so long due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"I don't think the opponents Bafana Bafana chose are strong enough," Barker told Goal .
"I would have expected the likes of Germany but then again, maybe it's a case of trying to avoid a hiding from those top nations.
"However, I don't think they will give Bafana the competition they need going into November's Afcon qualifiers against Sao Tome."
Barker talks from experience as he was in charge of Bafana Bafana for three years between 1994 and 1997.
He won the 1996 Afcon trophy on home soil but prior to that Bafana played high-profile opponents from Europe and South America as Barker prepared his team for the tournament.
Since Ntseki replaced Stuart Baxter as head coach in August 2019, Bafana Bafana have only played African opponents in the form of Mali, Ghana, Sudan and Namibia.
Bafana won two of the four matches, lost one and drew the other, and they are expected to win as many friendlies as possible as this would help them to avoid being in the group of death when the draw for next year's Afcon tournament is conducted, provided they qualify.
