Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has warned his players against feeling that they have an edge over Congo due to their chaotic preparations leading to the game against South Africa.
The two teams face off in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Gqeberha on Friday but the Congolese had not arrived in South Africa by Thursday evening following the infighting between the federation, Fecofoot, and the government.
The Congo government removed Fecofoot from staff offices on the eve of an extraordinary general assembly for the federation over a number of issues which has affected their preparations but Broos is keen to avoid complacency within his squad.
Why is Broos afraid of Congo despite poor preparations?
“There are a lot of things happening maybe chaotic also but again those are professional players and I said it before, AFCON is the most important thing for an African player, everybody wants to go to AFCON, maybe more important than World Cup,” Broos said on Thursday.
“They will be ready tomorrow, most players maybe the preparation of the game was not ideal but on the other side, they are professionals and certainly at the start of the game, they will be motivated and try to have a good result here.
“So, we can expect a motivated Congo team. During the game, I know when such things happen and you have chaotic preparations, during the game when we are able to make one or two goals maybe, they break at that moment but before that, you can be sure they will fight until the last seconds of the game to get a good result.”
South Africa coach feels Friday’s opponents will be motivated
The veteran coach says Congo could use their chaotic preparation as motivation against South Africa and spring a surprise and that is why he does not want to underestimate them.
“We have to be prepared and certainly not focused on what happened there with the offices closed and maybe today, they will not train and there is no press conference. That is not ideal but tomorrow is a football game and those guys will go to the limits to have a good result,” he added.
“We have to be prepared, I am not thinking that we will have a demotivated team from kick off, that should be a very big mistake.”
South Africa have four points from their two matches, same as Uganda, with Congo on three, and if Broos’ men collect the maximum six from Friday and next Tuesday’s matches, they will all but be assured a place in next year’s tournament in Morocco.
