Broos has everything he needs to lead Bafana to the World Cup group stages. A 16-year wait is over and South Africans are itching to see Bafana Bafana at the World Cup once again. Well, it’s only four days to go before coach Hugo Broos’s young guns open the 2026 edition of the world’s biggest sporting event when they play against Mexico in a sea of sombreros at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Thursday.
In the past three editions, South Africans were spectators because qualifying for the tournament became as elusive as Brown Mogotsi. Bafana might have played in the 2010 edition on home soil but they got a freebie entry by virtue of hosting the tournament, the first in Africa.
The South Africans arrived in Mexico on Wednesday and the natives have shown how massive the tournament, especially the game, is by turning up in large numbers at Bafana open training sessions just to catch a glimpse this past week.
They could not neither contain themselves nor wait for match day to see what their opponents were made of. In fact, the Mexicans are salivating at the prospect of meeting Bafana — they want a piece of them.
We hope that, unlike Carlos Alberto Parreira, the Brazilian World Cup winner who led Bafana in 2010, Broos will have a plan to silence the partisan Azteca that will be brimming with footie-crazy Mexicans.
Parreira did not have a visible plan for Mexico in the opening match of 2010 at FNB Stadium. The result was a 1-1 draw, a damp squib for the South Africans and hosts. Broos rewrote the South African history books after he launched himself as the most successful and longest-serving Bafana coach.
There’s the opportunity to break his own record and lead South Africa to the World Cup group stages for the first time.Besides winning two matches in the group stages, there’s an opportunity to get through via the backdoor for the best third-placed finishers.
Against Mexico, Czechia and South Korea, Broos’s charges can muster a win and a draw to have a slight chance of going through.What will add some Mexican-chilli flavour to the tournament is that old crocks Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with their knees as crooked as they are, are in the World Cup, trying to to outsmart each other and prove to the world who is the greatest of all time.
Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory in the previous tournament in Qatar in 2022. The former Barcelona talisman held his nerves in one of the most exciting cup finals in the history of the tournament, where, after a thrilling 3-3 draw, Argentina finally lifted the Holy Grail via penalty kicks.
Ronaldo is ambitious and will want to propel his Portugal teammates, who are one of the favourites, to the top to win the World Cup — something that will upset the Messi applecart. Well, we will have to see if the duo still have that something.
Bafana supporters have suffered long enough and they have shown their hunger by being passionately involved from the first game of the qualifiers.
They have praised Broos and cursed and insulted him in equal measure. In fact, those who love him adore him to death; those who despise him act as though he has leprosy, mostly because he swam against the tide and left out their favourite players.
Broos stood by his guns, his players and convictions. Now let’s see if he is the real deal and whether Bafana will kick some ass. Let the games begin.
- South Africa's national football team, Bafana Bafana, is set to end a 16-year absence from the World Cup.
- Coach Hugo Broos leads a young squad to their first match of the 2026 World Cup against Mexico.
- The opening game will take place at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
- The match is scheduled for Thursday, just four days away.
- Fans in South Africa are eagerly anticipating Bafana’s return to the world stage.
Broos has everything he needs to lead Bafana to the World Cup group stages. A 16-year wait is over and
In the past three editions,
We hope that, unlike Carlos Alberto Parreira, the Brazilian World Cup winner who led Bafana in 2010, Broos will have a plan to silence the partisan Azteca that will be brimming with footie-crazy Mexicans.
Parreira did not have a visible plan for Mexico in the opening match of 2010 at FNB Stadium.
Against Mexico, Czechia and
Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory in the previous tournament in Qatar in 2022.
Ronaldo is ambitious and will want to propel his Portugal teammates, who are one of the favourites, to the top to win the World Cup — something that will upset the Messi applecart. Well, we will have to see if the duo still have that something.
Bafana supporters have suffered long enough and they have shown their hunger by being passionately involved from the first game of the qualifiers.
Broos stood by his guns, his players and convictions. Now let’s see if he is the real deal and whether Bafana will kick some ass. Let the games begin.
