Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has identified Egypt as the team that will give his side a difficult time in their group at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa were drawn in Group B alongside Egypt, Angola and neighbours Zimbabwe on Monday with all three teams offering different challenges for Broos’ men.
While they have met Zimbabwe a number of times in recent years, Egypt and Angola will be tricky for Bafana Bafana and Broos feels the seven-time African champions have improved a lot since the 2023 tournament when they exited at the Round of 16.
Egypt is the team to beat – Broos
“When I look at our opponents for AFCON, I think that Egypt is the favourite to win the group. They didn’t make a very good last Afcon,” Broos said as per SAFA Media.
“They were not, or they didn’t perform like everybody expected. They were very soon out of the tournament. But I think in the last year, year and a half, they built again a very good team. They did very well in the qualifiers. So that will be the team to beat for the first place.”
Talking of Zimbabwe, who they have faced more times recently, Broos fees confident that South Africa can maintain their good record against the Warriors.
“And then we have Zimbabwe again. This is the fourth time that we are playing against Zimbabwe. We played against Zimbabwe for the World Cup in Qatar. We played against Zimbabwe for the qualification of the last AFCON but they were suspended, so there was no game between them and us,” he added.
Tactician confident of flooring Warriors
“And we have, or we have Zimbabwe in the qualifiers for the next World Cup. And we have, again, Zimbabwe now in the Afcon. Zimbabwe is a neighbour of South Africa, and it’s always a very difficult game for us. At the other side, in all the games we played already against Zimbabwe, we played one draw and we won three times. So, winning against Zimbabwe is very possible in an AFCON.”
For Angola, Broos is unsure what to expect and feels it is the team that they will have to analsyse more before they take to the pitch.
“And then we have Angola. Angola is, for me, the team I don’t know, really, very good. So, it’ll be very important to do a good analysis of our opponent, Angola, and to be well prepared to play that game. So, in general, I think we can be satisfied,” said Broos.
What should Bafana expect from Angola?
“It is not a very easy group. On the other side, I think we have a great opportunity to qualify for the next round. And then, as you know, in AFCON, after the group stages, everything is possible. So, we will do everything to do better than the last AFCON.”
South Africa had an impressive qualification phase when they finished top of their group after winning four games and drawing two and following their third-place finish at AFCON 2023, expectations are high this time.
AFCON 2025 will take place in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026.
