It will be a last throw of the dice for fringe and up-and-coming Bafana Bafana players to impress head coach Hugo Broos when South Africa host Zambia in a friendly international at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday.
The match will play a major role in determining who will get a last gasp entry into the final squad that will represent Mzansi at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament to be held in Morocco next month and in January.
“We will give other players a chance; there are a few new players, and some are not in the team (Relebohile Mofokeng and Siyabonga Ngezana), because I know those players and I did not need to see them in this coming match.
“But I took the opportunity to call and see the new players in training and also see their mentality for the future, so that we can count on them. I know 75%-80% who will be in the final squad for Afcon – I know it in my head. But some decisions will need to be made,” said Broos.
“But it’s not a friendly game, we want to continue with the momentum and the
winning attitude – that will be good going to Afcon.
“All the teams that we play against these days are very motivated, even in the friendly matches, so Zambia will be a tough game, and they have some good players.,” Broos said. “I want to win this game because we do not want to lose matches going to Afcon.”
The Belgian, who won the Afcon with Cameroon in 2017, explained that Bafana had difficulties in finding suitable opposition because some of the best countries are focused on World Cup qualification play-offs.
“We tried to get other countries besides Zambia, but other teams are playing in the 2026 World Cup play-offs, and they are not available. They are the best teams on the continent, like DR Congo, Nigeria, and we cannot play against them because of the play-offs, and we had to look for other countries.
In southern Africa, we played against Namibia, Lesotho, and we did not want to face them again.
“Kenya did not want to come, and Zambia agreed to play against us. However, preparations for Afcon are going well.
“I will go to the World Cup draw in early December and then come back immediately to prepare for Afcon,” he added.
