With the Bafana Bafana final 23-man squad all set and ready to go for the two upcoming international friendly matches against Eswatini and Ivory Coast, outspoken coach Hugo Broos will be setting his sights on next month’s all-important 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Bafana will first host neighbours Eswatini whith whom they lock horns on Friday evening. They will then embark on a long trip to west Africa in the city of Abidjan to face off with the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) host nation Ivory Coast on October 17.
Broos again stirred the emotions of South African supporters when he criticised the standards of the local professional league. “First of all I think we will have the same season as the season before, and the season before. Sundowns will be champions,” said Broos when he announced his squad.
“So, yes, the quality of the PSL has not improved, it stayed the same. Sundowns is dominating and the others are trying to follow but they can’t. And this is not good for South African football. And I think that for Sundowns it is not good.
“They were in quarterfinals [of the CAF Champions League] three years ago, they were the semifinalists last year. And I think one of the reasons why they can’t jump to the final is because their opponents in our league are not strong enough.”
Broos’ charges will go up against a relatively weak Eswatini side that does not have enough fire-power to go pound for pound against Broos’ troops.
Bafana will undoubtedly go into the match as favourites as this is a fixture they have shown their complete dominance in – winning five and drawing one of their previous six encounters since 2007.
Their last meeting ended in a narrow 2-1 victory during their regional Cosafa Cup competition group stage encounter when Tshegofatso Mabasa found the late winner.
This time, it will be a different ball game altogether, probably even tougher for the visitors as they will be facing a totally different and agonizingly strong Bafana side. They last faced a team headed by stand-in coach Morena Ramoreboli and played against fringe players.
Like any other team, Eswatini does have play makers, and a player to watch for it will be none other than its talisman Justice Figuareido, who plies his trade for DStv Premiership side Richards Bay.
Bafana boast players such as Burnley star Lyle Foster and Racing Strasbourg striker Lebo Mothiba, who will be expected to lead the line of attack and bang in goals to make a statement win before their real test against Ivory Coast’s Elephants.
Broos has since called upon staunch national team supporters to come out in their numbers to rally behind the team, following their embarrassing “no show” against Namibia and DR Congo.
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