Qualifying for World Cup 2026 is Broos’ last sho
Sports Sermon
Opinion
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is facing one of the biggest tests of his coaching career. The qualifiers for the 2026 Fifa World Cup started this weekend and he is under no illusion about how desperate his team, and his bosses at Safa, are about qualifying. Bafana have not qualified for a World Cup in more than 20 years, and the fans are gatvol!
Since he took over as coach two years ago, Broos has launched a two-pronged attack; firstly, by stabilising Bafana on the field; and secondly by riling and enraging local football supporters with his fierce criticism of the below-average standards of SA football.
The South Africans are in Group C together with Benin, Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and African giants Nigeria.
A total of nine African teams are guaranteed to compete in the next World Cup, with another one spot possible, via the Fifa Play-off Tournament.
Previously, 54 African nations fought for a mere five berths, which made it very difficult to qualify.
So, Broos has no excuse but to spare SA further embarrassment and lead his squad to the land of Uncle Sam.
The rot started when they failed to book a spot in the 2006 World Cup, and thereafter it was a one way down slide. Coached by Stuart Baxter at that time, they finished third in their group and missed the plane to Germany.
In 2010, even though SA was given a free entry for hosting the tournament, they made unwanted history by becoming the first hosts to bomb out in the group stages. Then came the qualifiers for the 2014 tournament, that took place in the land of the samba, Brazil. SA botched it yet again when they finished second to Ethiopia in a relatively easy group with Botswana and Central African Republic as the other opponents.
SA went through three coaches in those qualifiers. Coach Pitso Mosimane was sacked after a disappointing 1-1 draw against Ethiopia in Rustenburg. Steve Komphela took over and he also failed to get a win over Botswana and was replaced by Gordon Igesund who ate the dust of the Ethiopians, after they topped the group.
Shakes Mashaba returned for his second spell and was tasked to get Bafana to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. It was a disaster of massive proportions, which resulted in Mashaba scolding his boss, Safa president Danny Jordaan, on national television after a match.
Bafana, who were in the same group as Senegal, Cape Verde and Burkina Faso, finished rock- bottom. The fiery Mashaba was given the boot for his outburst and Bafana watched the tournament, which France won, from the comfort of their couches.
Qatar 2022 was next, and Broos was roped in the last minute to steer the Bafana ship to the oil-rich Middle East country. Broos started the campaign brightly and his charges led the group until the last match against Ghana in the Cape Coast, where the South Africans were bundled out via a controversial penalty.
Broos now has another throw of the dice. The African qualifiers will be played across two rounds. The first will be contested in the form of a group stage, with nine groups of six teams each. Each team will play two matches, home and away, against each of their opponents. The top finisher in each group will qualify for World Cup 26.
The second round will pit the four best runners-up in two once-off semifinals, followed by a final. The winner of this second round will participate in the Fifa Play-off Tournament.
There hasn’t been a bigger chance for Mzansi to finally find their way to the elusive World Cup, but with Bafana, you can’t bet your last shilling, even when the odds are so favourable.
