Hugo Broos is worried that Bafana Bafana’s mentality isn’t at the required level to take them very far in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos is worried that his team’s failure to manage games properly will see them go no further than the round of 16 at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa were viewed as title contenders before a ball had been kicked in Morocco, but they’ve been nowhere near their best despite advancing to the knockout stages as runners-up in Group A.
Broos’ side opened the scoring against Angola and Zimbabwe, but on both occasions they took their foot of the gas and allowed their opponents back into the contest.
The AFCON 2023 semi-finalists did manage to beat the Black Sable Antelopes (2-1) and the Warriors (3-2), while they missed out on the chance to punish Egypt, who held out for a 1-0 win after playing the entire second half with just 10 men.
Either Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Mozambique await Bafana Bafana in the next round, and Broos warned his players to expect disappointment if they don’t sort out their issues before January 4.
“This is something I am worried about because it happened again in this game and against Angola. Even in the first half against Egypt, we were soft and weak, we were not determined in duels and there was not aggression,” he said.
“We started with aggression in the first 20 minutes against Zimbabwe, but we took the foot off the pedal and gave the opportunity to the opponent to get back in the game.
“We must learn to have concentration because it is either Ivory Coast or Cameroon in the next round and we can’t play like that against them. If we do that, we have no chance to win that game.
“You have to fight more, concentrate more, be more focused, and not thinking it is going to be easy like we did after 20 minutes against Zimbabwe. Something we have to know is if you want to go far in this tournament, this is the mentality we need.”
