Augusto Palacios believes Bafana Bafana must tune out the noise about Benin and Nigeria and focus on what really matters: winning their own games to keep their 2026 FIFA World Cup dream alive.
The former national team coach has called on Hugo Broos and his players to disregard the group permutations and focus entirely on their final two qualifiers.
Bafana will host Zimbabwe on Friday, 10 October, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium at 18:00, before concluding their campaign against Rwanda next Tuesday, 14 October, in Mbombela.
Despite a recent three-point sanction from FIFA over the Teboho Mokoena eligibility case, South Africa still have a strong shot in Group C. Broos’ men must collect six points and hope Benin stumble against Rwanda or Nigeria. If both sides win twice, goal difference will decide the group, with Benin just one goal ahead for now.
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Palacios kept his message straightforward: control what you can control.
“We have a good record, and we have good players,” he told FARPost. “All we need to do is follow what [Hugo] Broos said. Get on the field and win the games. That is all, that is all.” We should not think about Benin and Nigeria. We just have to focus on winning our games. Do we have the capacity? Yes. Do we have the quality players? Yes.”
He also praised Broos for his fair and consistent approach to player selection.
“One thing that is important with this coach is that he selects according to performance. We should not doubt performance.”
Drawing from his memories of France 1998 and Korea/Japan 2002, the Peruvian-born coach reminded players what’s at stake.
“In football, there are three aspirations: winning your league at club level, playing in Europe, and the biggest of all, representing your country at the World Cup.”
“The World Cup is the highest level. The whole world watches you. It is very emotional to be there,” Palacios concluded.
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