Bafana Bafana players, technical team and officials received a warm welcome from a significant crowd of supporters when they landed at the OR Tambo International Airport from Liberia on Wednesday evening.
Joining SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan to welcome the team back home were die-hard supporters Mama Joy, Sadaam Maake, and Safa national executive committee members Bhudda Mathathe and Job Mchunu.
The national team returned from a successful mission in Monrovia where they beat the Lone Stars 2-1 to book a spot in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) to be hosted by Ivory Coast in January.
The away victory came after Bafana were held to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the qualifiers at Orlando Stadium on Friday last week.
The result was not received well by coach Hugo Broos, who said after beating Liberia on Tuesday that he has a plan for the Afcon tournament.
“I have a plan, it is in my head. I just have to put it on paper,” said Broos upon arrival at the airport.
“We will play friendly matches in September and November to prepare [for the tournament in January]. Also in June, we will do some tests to get an idea of the physical condition of the players.
“The remaining game against Morocco [in June] will be used as [part of our] preparation for Afcon. We will try to win the game because they are a big team and will give us a test.
“Our target for Afcon is to pass through the group stages and then it’s a lottery, you may get an easy team or difficult team [going forward] like Senegal.”
Jordaan has challenged Bafana to qualify for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
“It is important to qualify for the World Cup, there will be nine places up for grabs from Africa and we must focus so that we get one of the places for the tournament in Mexico, USA and Canada,” said Jordaan.
“The fans believe in this team, they were disappointed after the match at Orlando Stadium but now they are happy.”
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