Despite accounting for Angola’s scalp in Bafana Bafana’s Group B opener, Hugo Broos is keeping it real, noting a key area to fix before playing Egypt in the 2025 AFCON tournament on Friday.
Bafana set the tone for another impressive show at AFCON after dispatching stubborn Angola in what was Broos’ 50th match in charge of the team. Oswin Appollis and Lyle Foster were the goal scorers in Bafana’s 2-1 win over Angola on Monday night at the Grand Stade de Marrakech in Morocco.
As it stands in the group, Bafana and Egypt are tied on three points in Group B, before their showdown on Friday at Stade Adrar in Agadir. Trailing behind are Zimbabwe and Angola, who are yet to register a point and carry a goal difference of -1 after their identical 2-1 opening-day defeats.
However, Broos was not overly impressed with how his charges applied themselves in the first half versus Angola. The Belgian said a poor application and lazy approach in the first half will be tantamount to disaster when they face The Pharaohs of Egypt. He declared it will not happen again.
WHAT HUGO BROOS SAID ABOUT BAFANA
“When you talk about the match with Egypt, you talk about your team performance today [Monday,” said Broos. “Egypt makes a tough opponent compared to Angola. How do you plan on going into that match?
“I think we have to play like [we did] in the second half. The first half again, I don’t know why but we fell asleep. This was not South Africa that I used to see. There was no depth in our game. We all passed the ball in the feet. We gave the opportunity to the opponent to put pressure on us.
“Yes, that is something that happened in the first half and maybe it was good that it happened so we got a good wake-up call in the first 45 minutes. I don’t think it will happen again.”
Having led Bafana Bafana to a record-extending 27 matches unbeaten – the longest streak in the nation’s history, Broos says they still need Lady Luck on their side to win the 2025 AFCON title.
“In the next games, for us the most important thing now is to survive those group stages going into the knockout stages. Then we will see. This is a tough tournament. You need, sometimes a little bit of luck also,” he added.
“We will see what we can do. I am confident because I saw the second half. What I wanted to see, it has to be better than the football. But again, the passion and the aggressivity was again in our game and that makes me happy.”
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