With Bafana Bafana needing six points to qualify for the CAF 2023 AFCON tournament, coach Hugo Broos warns it won’t be a stroll in the park as “anything can happen in Africa.”
South Africa is set to face Liberia in a crucial two-legged tie, starting at home.
The first leg will be played at Orlando Stadium on Friday, 24 March 2023, with the game scheduled to start at 18:00.
Bafana will then jet off to the West African side for the second leg to take place on Tuesday, 28 March 2023.
Broos named a strong Bafana final squad made of 23 players last week from his 35-member preliminary squad.
Sadly, Bafana has failed to book a spot for the AFCON finals in four of the last seven competitions.
And now, qualifying for the 2023 AFCON tournament set to take place in Ivory Coast is a big deal for Broos and his troops.
HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR BAFANA TO WIN THE TWO GAMES
The Belgian mentor, Broos, revealed how important it is for South Africa to win all two encounters against Liberia in their quest to qualify for AFCON.
“It is very important to play those two games and win them,” Broos told the members of the media.
“It will be a mental struggle in those two games if we want to be sure of qualifying. We have to win two times. I don’t think that you can take the risk and say ‘okay four on six is also good’.
“Probably it will be enough but you never know. What I know now is that it will be confirmed when we play against Morocco in June. And that Liberia is playing in September against Morocco so you see the situation. So, they will know our result already before they play the last game.”
‘IN AFRICA ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN’
The 70-year-old football manager continued: “And in Africa, anything can happen so we have to play for six points. And then we are sure and we can look at the game in June against Morocco.
“We can also look with the happy face to the game against Morocco.”
Currently, Bafana sit second in Group K of the AFCON qualifiers without a point after one game.
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