Bafana must pay no mind to banned Zimbabwe's off-field troubles, says Lucas Radebe

Bafana Bafana and Leeds United legend Lucas Radebe said the men's national team must pay no mind to their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers adversaries Zimbabwe's FIFA suspension from world football.

In February, the world football governing body FIFA imposed sanctions upon SA's neighbours, along with Kenya, because of government interference in the running of those countries' football.

"They know what needs to be done for the suspension to be lifted and for them to be re-admitted," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said at the time of Zimbabwe's ban.

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However, Zimbabwe was admitted into the Afcon 2023 qualification draw and will have until the start of the qualifiers to clear the matter, otherwise Group K will be contested by the other three members: South Africa, Morocco and Liberia.

Radebe says, though, that this should not play a part in Bafana's preparation for the qualifiers beginning on 30 May.

"No, Bafana should not take any of that into account," Radebe said.

"We should prepare ourselves as though we are playing three teams in our group, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Morocco.

"That's how it's supposed to be. Forget about what happens [with the FIFA ban].

"We'll see. We have to wait until later to find out whether Zimbabwe is in or out.

"We just need to prepare the best way we can for this Afcon."

Bafana assistant coach Helman Mkhalele echoed Radebe's thoughts about Zimbabwe's administrative troubles not playing a factor in SA's preparation for the qualifiers.

"Not at all," he said, "We are just focusing on the opponents and try to make sure that we study all the teams, including Zimbabwe.

"We don't want to focus on their current