Tag: Broos

By Victor Oguntade

2026 FIFA World Cup Group C qualifier  between his South Africa and Nigeria as a brawl than a football match.

Bafana Bafana  and Super Eagles  played out a pulsating 1-1 draw at the at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein  but the ill-tempered match would also be remember for its negativity of play as Gabonese referee Pierre Ghislain Atcho issued five yellow cards and made an bewildering 30 fouls calls  .

In his immediate  reaction of the match, Broos said matter-of-factly: “It was maybe not a football match, it was a fight.”

However,  he commended his team’s determination and resilience against the battle-hardened  West Africans: “During 90 minutes, I think the first half hour, we played very good football. And then you know that against this opponent, they have so much power in the team. And then they started to use the power.

“But what I said also, my team has also power. And you saw the second half, how they fight for every ball, for every metre. They wanted a draw and they tried to win.”

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Irrespective of the outcome of the match, Broos further expressed pride in his team’s performance, saying: “The way we played against Nigeria was the right way.

“Not so good football, but the fighting spirit was there.

“I’m very proud of my team.”

Meanwhile, Broos praised Man of the Match winner, 19-year-old Mbekezeli Mbokazi, for his outstanding display.

“When you see the way he(Mbokazi)  plays, he’s very strong,” the 73-year-old Broos  said. “He’s good on the ball. I think he deserves to be the man of the match.

“But we can’t forget the other players and also the guys who came in. So immediately, they wanted also to fight with all the rest and keep that point here in South Africa. And we succeeded and we achieved it.”

The draw sees South Africa move to 17 points, while Nigeria now sits on 11 points in second place. The result means Nigeria will need to win their remaining matches to keep their World Cup hopes alive. South Africa, on the other hand, needs just one more victory to secure their spot in the tournament.

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos is counting on the injection of new young players could sway the results of the 2026 FIFA World Cup doubleheader in favour of his side against Super Eagles in June.

Broos’ side  nearly eliminated  the Super Eagles in the semi -final of the recently held 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Cote d’Ivoire before they bowed out on penalties.

With barely three months to the  World Cup qualifier , Broos who previously coached the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon,  told journalists that he has been able to identify some new players that he hopes to introduce during the World Cup Qualifiers and that of AFCON Qualifiers too.

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 “We have some new players, younger players with us. I hope that maybe they can show me that I can count on them for the next months, for the qualifiers for the World Cup and AFCON, and that maybe little by little, we can put those players on the team.

 “That’s what we want to do in the next few months, besides to qualify for AFCON and World Cup,” he said.

South Africa are second in Group A with three points from two games behind surprise group leaders, Rwanda who have four points. Nigeria is third with two points from possible six ahead of the June fixtures.

Coach Hugo Broos was full of praise for his players after their hard-fought 3^rd  place finish in the Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 courtesy of a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win that came after a 0-0 draw.

With very little chances given to his squad, Broos’ charges were impressive during their stay in Cote d’Ivoire where they dismantled African football heavyweights en route to a third-place finish.

Speaking after clinching the third-place finish in Abidjan, Broos showered his squad with praises, making a special mention of the players that were on the bench who rallied the on-field players.

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 “I said after Nigeria match that I was proud of this team, and I think today people can see why I say I am proud of this team. We were not fresh but when you see the mentality in that group, it is impressive,” said the delighted coach.

 “The boys did very well. They showed great mentality. They tried to do what I asked, and I understand that it was difficult. It shows that we if we have problems, we can count on those who are on the bench. I was satisfied with players on the pitch, but I was even more satisfied with those on the pitch. They were encouraging them and pushing them. From this, you know that you have 23 guys who want one thing and that is winning” concluded the coach.

South Africa coach Hugo Broos has said his team will play without pressure when they face Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals on Wednesday in Bouake.

Bafana Bafana defeated Cape Verde 2-1 on penalties in the quarter-finals after a goalless 120 minutes at the Stade de Yamoussoukro to set up a semi-finals clash against Nigeria.

The Belgian tactician, who claimed that their AFCON campaign has already been considered success for reaching last four, said they “have nothing to lose”.

“It is maybe bizarre for me to say that but for us , our AFCON has already been a success. We are in the semi-finals. Nobody thought we would do that when we left South Africa to come here. There will be less pressure on us, I am certain of that. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to play the final, certainly not,” Broos said.

Broos, who led Cameroon to an AFCON title in Gabon in 2017, believes there are similarities between that campaign and his current team’s run.

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“I am not superstitious. But when you see the run we are having, and you see the run we had with Cameroon it is almost exactly the same,” he said.”It is kind of the same path. It was the case seven years ago with Cameroon. Nobody believed, nobody. And we won the AFCON. Let’s hope we will do the same thing with South Africa.”

In a related development, Bafana Bafana  star Grant Kekana hinted that the South Africans will be at the ready against Nigeria after the 1996 champions overcame Cape Verde in  their quarter final match on Saturday.

“It’s another tough opponent. Nigeria has a lot of quality players but we believe in ourselves,” Kekana said. “We’re gonna go to the drawing board, plan accordingly, and give ourselves a chance of getting a positive result against them.”