Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has found an excuse for the national team’s erratic performances in the past two 2025 AFCON qualifiers against Uganda and South Sudan.
In their qualifiers opener last Friday at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Bafana squandered a 1-0 advantage against ‘The Cranes’, ultimately falling behind 2-1. Fortunately, Thalente Mbatha, on his Bafana debut, managed to net a late equaliser, resulting in a 2-2 draw.
On Tuesday, the team faced a bit similar situation against South Sudan, with the score tied at 2-2 as the game approached its conclusion.
Lightning struck twice, and Mbatha emerged as the hero, scoring a late goal that secured all three points for South Africa at Juba National Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
Broos acknowledged that the team did not perform at their optimal level in either match, particularly in the encounter against South Sudan.
He attributed these subpar performances to the limited competitive matches of many players in his team, as the domestic league in South Africa has yet to commence.
HUGO BROOS ON WHY BAFANA DIDN’T PERFORM TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITIES
“First of all, I said it before or at the beginning of the week: the big trouble we have now at this moment is that our players didn’t play competitive games,” said Broos.
“The 80% of the players played only the pre-season friendly games, and we saw that in both games. We are not sharp enough.
“This is not South Africa that we knew from other games. This is the first thing, the second thing, individual mistakes can always happen.
“But now, with two games, we have made individual mistakes. The second goal against Uganda was a mistake, and today, the two goals of Sudan were two mistakes, two defensive mistakes we made.
“So, this is something we have to do better in the next game, certainly next month against Congo [Brazzaville], and I’m sure that it will be because my players at that moment will have more competitive games because this week the competition starts in South Africa.
“And I think that was the biggest problem South Africa had for the past two games that we didn’t have competitive games. There was a lack of sharpness in our game.”
RELATED STORY: Thalente Mbatha to the rescue again as Bafana beat South Sudan
