Mohamed Salah will square up with Hlanti after scoring two goals in the Group stage with tournament favourites, Egypt.
Hlanti up against Morocco playmaker Hakim Ziyech in their final Group D fixture at Al Salam stadium.
Bafana Bafana defender Sifiso Hlanti has talked up the impending last-16 duel with Egypt superstar Mohamed Salah at AFCON 2019 and opened up on the criticism of supporters.
Hlanti, 29, has emerged as the first-choice left-back within the tenure of head coach Stuart Baxter after commanding displays in the Absa Premiership with Bidvest Wits over the past two seasons.
READ: Kekana on Baxter's instructions
Having faced the likes of Sadio Mane with the national team in the build-up to the continental showpiece, the Students defender feels he is ready to face the Liverpool forward - despite admitting his own form hasn't been up to standard in Egypt.
"There is nothing we are afraid of. We also have good players," he said. "If we can switch on as players and take things in a positive manner and the right attitude, we can make things happen against Egypt.
"So we are not going to give them that respect. I have a feeling that we can make things happen, not only for us but for the county – they have been waiting for something to happen.
"It's a learning curve to play against players who are playing in Europe. That's what I'm always looking forward to, in order to compete with the best. I won't put pressure on myself, but I'm not afraid of anyone."
READ: Morocco stars on last-minute victory over Bafana
On the criticism the team has received after scraping into the knockout stage of the competiton, the former Amazulu man was quite frank in his response.
"It's a tough one to answer, so let me try and manipulate things because I take myself as an ordinary person you know, I respect people [fans] so much, they might not be feeling well the way we play," he explained.
"But truly speaking, what we do here, we not doing for anyone else, we are doing it for ourselves because we work for our families.
"Yes we respect the support we get from our country, we have no doubts about that but all in all, it's all about us as we are here for one mission. The mission that we have here is to go further in the tournament, so that's the most important thing for us at the moment.
"We respect their support but if we have the mentality that if we can go further and get something out of nothing, it's something that we are looking for."
Bafana Bafana face The Pharaohs at the Cairo International Stadium on Saturday evening at 21:00.
