Nematandani says Safa were not prepared to take chances

By Ed Aarons BBC Sport, Johannesburg

South Africa's African Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt has been moved to Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium.

Bafana Bafana were scheduled to meet the Pharaohs at the iconic ground formerly known as Soccer City.

But there are concerns about the quality of the pitch at the stadium that hosted the 2010 World Cup final.

South African Football Association (Safa) president Kirsten Nematandani confirmed the switch of venue to the BBC on Tuesday.

"The match will be taking place at Ellis Park," said Nematandani.

"We had to find somewhere suitable for the match and that was the best option available to us."

Now called FNB Stadium, the 94,000 capacity venue came under fire after last month's Soweto derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

The surface was re-laid after the stadium hosted a music concert by Irish rockers U2 but it cut up badly during the derby.

There were so many divots that the referee halted play in the middle of each half to allow ground staff to rush around the pitch and make temporary repairs.

"The FNB has been engaged in a number of issues so we chose another facility that was available," added Nematandani.

"The conditions there have not been very good and we had some issues regarding the changing rooms over the weekend so we didn't want to take a chance."

After the political upheaval in Cairo, the Egyptian FA had requested for the match to be postponed but that was rejected by Safa.

The reigning African champions are currently bottom of Group G with just one point from their opening two matches.

They will arrive in South Africa after a training camp in the Middle East.

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