Bafana Bafana coach not impressed by early start to their qualification phase
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is not happy that the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are coming early in September when most players have not featured in competitive fixtures.
South Africa will take on Uganda at the Orlando Stadium on Friday before a clash away to South Sudan next Tuesday and while he has named a strong squad, Broos feels that some of his players are still not ready, as they lack match sharpness.
This is due to the fact that the PSL is yet to kick off and only players from Orlando Pirates, Stellenbosch FC, Mamelodi Sundowns and Cape Town City have played three or more competitive games this season, with the rest featuring in friendly pre-season fixtures.
Is Hugo Broos panicking already?
“It is the start of September so it means we have players that have not played so many good games,” Broos said on Monday.
“We have clubs not playing MTN8 or preliminary games for Champions League and Confederation Cup but playing friendly games against each other but it is not the same.
“It is pre-season, friendly games but this is totally different than a game like Friday and next Tuesday for a qualifier. It annoys me a little bit and it will be for me to also see how we can manage that.
“The most important thing is that we have to have the right mentality. They will not be easy games but if we can show the right mentality, we will not suffer so much from a lack of important games.”
South Africa coach has high targets
Broos is targeting maximum points from the two games which will give them a base for a successful qualification campaign before home and away games against Congo Brazzaville in October.
“A good start for me is six on six. I don’t think we can be happy if we shouldn’t have six on six. If we can achieve that, then we have the two key games in October against Congo and in the best of all, we could be already qualified in that moment,” he added.
“Let us try to win those two games, we have the quality and confidence for that but it does not mean that we have to underestimate our opponents for Friday and Tuesday.”
