With the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) draw done and dusted, there is a general sentiment that Bafana Bafana’s biggest hurdle to overcome among the three countries they face in the qualification round will be the Moroccans.
The other two nations Bafana are set to clash against for a spot at the biennial African football spectacle in the Ivory Coast next year are across the Limpopo river neighbours Zimbabwe and west Africans Liberia, who are the neighbours of the hosts, in Group K when the qualifiers kick off in June.
Bafana coach Hugo Broos did his own analysis of the group but singled out Morocco as the most difficult side in the group after the draw was concluded on Tuesday night.
“If we look at this group, it’s clear that Morocco are the best team. They were at Afcon in January and were eliminated by Egypt. They are a very good team and maybe they are the best of our group with players playing in Belgium like Selim Amallah and others … I know this team very well,” said Broos, conceding that he does not know much about the Liberian national team.
“Liberia are a team I don’t know, and I don’t know their players, so it’s up to us to look for videos of their recent matches. Maybe they are the weakest team in the group, but it’s always dangerous to underestimate an opponent. We are going to look at their last games and see how good they are.
“Morocco are the best team and Zimbabwe are our neighbours. It is going to be very tough games. Liberia normally has to be the weakest team in the group. If we want to be first in the group, we have to beat Morocco. We played against Zimbabwe in the World Cup qualifiers last year and we know them very well.”
Broos also hinted on his plans ahead of the qualifiers. “We are going to watch their [Bafana players’] games in the league and watch players who are playing abroad. There are players we know and there are some we saw [in action], we need to look at all of them again.
“There are guys who are playing in Sweden and maybe we will decide if they can join us in June. I will have several weeks to watch new players in the league to try to have a good combination for the qualifiers in June.”
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