Bafana Bafana players and technical team members have been hard at work as they seek to continue with their rich vein of form ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers that starts this weekend.
On Tuesday afternoon, they were boosted by the news that the last batch of players arrived in camp. This leaves head coach Hugo Broos with a full complement of players he selected. From the outstanding three, Elias Mokwana arrived on Monday night. Siyabonga Ngezana and Sphephelo Sithole joined the rest of the group on Tuesday morning.
A relatively successful year
The South Africans, under coach Hugo Broos, have had a relatively successful year. And they will want to keep the tempo and the momentum going. They will face Uganda on Friday (September 6) at the Orlando Stadium in the first fixture. This is before travelling to South Sudan for the second match on Tuesday night.
Bafana’s Group K opponents comprise of Uganda, Congo and South Sudan. The two top finishers will qualify for the tournament to be hosted in Morocco in December next year.
Bafana Bafana finished third and won a bronze medal at this year’s Afcon. They are quietly going on about their business at the Dobsonville Stadium unnoticed. And Broos explained the importance of starting the qualifiers on a high note.
“Let us try to win these two games, we have the quality, and we have the confidence to do it. But it doesn’t mean we will underestimate our opponents on Friday and next Tuesday,” Broos told Safa’s website.
Wary of opponents
“They are difficult teams to play against. There are teams who have much power, much height, and they play with heart. They have… some good individuals in the teams, and it means from our side, we have to play on our level. And if we can achieve again and confirm again what we did in the last few months, I think we have to be able to win those two games.
“When we go back to the last eight months of this year, in the beginning of the year, I think we can be very happy with the results of Bafana Bafana,” he said.
“We had a very good Afcon, came back with a bronze medal. After that, a friendly game against Algeria (3-3), very good. And then the games against Zimbabwe (3-1) and Nigeria (1-1) in the World Cup qualifiers, also we had very good results.
Confident of results
“So that means, yeah, we are confident. And we believe in ourselves to start those qualifiers for Afcon 2025. I think it’s very important that when you play qualifiers you have a good start. When you have a good start, you put pressure on your opponents. When you don’t, it’s just the opposite. We have to try to avoid that.”
Gates for the Friday match will open at 3pm. Tickets are priced at R30 (for children, Scholars and students), R60 for adults, and R140 for families (2 adults + 2 children).
The tickets are available at TicketPro and all Spar supermarkets (QuickSpar and SuperSpar). Also at Sasol, Engen, Sell, PowerFashion and JAM Clothing.
