Hugo Broos (coach) of Bafana Bafana during the South Africa mens national soccer team press conference at FNB Stadium on October 12, 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
Head coach Hugo Broos has given his honest assessment of Bafana Bafana’s chances in the Africa Cup of Nations following Thursday night’s group stage draw.
After missing out on the last edition in 2021, Bafana are set to return to compete with the continent’s best at next year’s Afcon to be played in Ivory Coast.
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Bafana have been drawn in Group E alongside Mali, Tunisia and Namibia. Speaking to SAFA Media in response to the draw, Broos admitted he was slightly relieved to avoid some of the continent’s heavyweights.
“Honestly I’m not really unhappy, when you see the teams who are represented,” Broos said.
“I think with Mali, for sure we have a very big team, on the other side also, we have Tunisia but I prefer to have Tunisia than Senegal or Ivory Coast .
“So that’s also good and then Namibia. So I think we can achieve our level best that we can go through the group stages [to the knockout stages].
“As you know, the preparations at the moment are still disturbed by injuries but we still have three months. So, I don’t panic for a moment. Totally not. I hope we can recuperate all those players that were injured last two month and work to Afcon, first of all the qualifiers and then work to Afcon.
“When You are in pot B, you can’t hope for a smaller team because you know there will be at least two big teams in your group. We have Tunisia, certainly a big team but a little bit less than a Morocco or a Senegal or even the hosts Ivory Coast.
“Mali is the same, not really a big team, but again they will be tough. Two big teams and to directly qualify we will have to beat them both maybe so will see.
“I am rather happy with the draw. It could be worse.”
The Afcon is set to kick off on 13 January 2024. Before then, Bafana play Eswatini at FNB Stadium on Friday. Kick-off is at 18:00.
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