Amakhosi midfielder Mandla Masango will be hoping to keep up his recent good form in front of goal for the South Africa U23 national team when they face Benin in an Olympic Qualifying Second Round First leg encounter, to be played in Cotonou on Saturday afternoon.

Prior to jetting out of O.R. Tambo International in Gauteng to Benin via Lagos in Nigeria, Masango spoke to kaizerchiefs.com and explained what a win away from home will do for Amaglug Glug’s ambitions to qualify for the London Olympic games.

“We had a good warm up in the two matches that we played against Mauritius last week, I was fortunate enough to score in one of those games.

"That has helped prepare us for this match and a win against Benin on the road virtually puts us half way into the final qualification stage to follow after this. We can’t think of playing for a draw our hope is to go there and win the game.”

Masango also warned that South Africa will not take it easy on Saturday and are wary of the strength of the Benin team, he does believe that the fact that their previous qualifying game against Libya was played in Bamako Mali, has gone some way towards preparing them for what to expect against Benin.

“Benin’s players are strong physically and also we have been informed that a number of them play in Europe, it won’t be easy but over time we have learnt to adapt and get good results away from home and hopefully that will be the case again.”

Visiting Masango prior to Amaglug Glug’s Johannesburg Hotel on Wednesday afternoon was another Chiefs player Mthokozisi Yende, Masango appreciated the visit of his club teammate.

“It is great encouragement for me to have Mthokozisi come see me off, he took time out of his day’s off to venture out here and he also told me to go out there and do my best. Which I greatly appreciate, it also shows the bond between the players at Chiefs is a strong one.”

Yende explained that he believes Masango and the South African U23 team will give a good account for themselves on Saturday, “Mandla is a hard working team player, he has shown over the past few months that he is willing to work hard to ensure that his team wins.

"It really does not matter whether he is playing for Chiefs or the national team he will try’s his best, and I am confident that he will put up another strong display on Saturday.

"We are part of the Chiefs family and we stand behind each other, and I hope that my visit shows to Mandla that we stand behind him and hope that he can help take the country into the next round of qualifiers.”

Amaglug Glug’s game against Benin will kick off at 16h00 South African time and will take place at the René Pleven Stadium on Saturday, the second leg is scheduled to take place in June.