Following their disappointing yet hard-fought draw against Uganda, coach Hugo Broos and his Bafana Bafana troops will be going for nothing less than three points when they travel to central Africa to entertain South Sudan on Tuesday.
South Africa was held to a thrilling 2-2 draw by the Ugandans during their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Group K opening clash at an almost full Orlando Stadium on Friday night.
Lyle Foster and debutant Thalente Mbatha were on the score sheet for Bafana, with the latter banging in a last-gasp equalising goal to steal a point in stoppage time.
Ahead of the two fixtures, Broos had initially targeted six points to make their job easier going into their third match away to current table leaders Congo Brazzaville in October.
Speaking to the media after the two-all draw on Friday, Broos expressed his mixed emotions, saying that in as much as a point was not a bad result, against South Sudan, it is a must-win clash.
“I am disappointed that we could not win the game and only got a point but at the end of the day, it’s a point,” Broos said.
“So, we are going into the game on Tuesday against South Sudan with a slight boost, but we have to win.”
“We also have to review some of the things that we need to do better and try to have a sharper team on the pitch than we had against Uganda because again, it will not be easy.”
Though the South Africans will have their tails up heading into the next game, they will be confronting a wounded South Sudanese side that lost its opening match and will want to bounce back at home.
Bafana will, however, go into the fixture as outright favourites as they go up against a side that is winless in its last six official games, having drawn four and lost three times.
Bafana themselves have not been a dangerous force away from home, as their last away win came against Liberia in the Afcon qualifiers last year.
It is yet to be seen who will start in goals for Bafana after Veli Mothwa’s goalkeeping howler. Sipho Chaine and Ricardo Goss are the two available options should Mothwa not be mentally ready to start.
