Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is determined to launch his African Cup of Nations campaign in style, aiming for a triumphant start with a victory over Angola in their opening group match.
The eagerly awaited tournament will unfold in Morocco next month.
Last year, the South African senior national team lost its opening group stage match against Mali but went on to win bronze, defeating DR Congo 6-5 on penalties after their third-place match ended in a goalless draw.
Coach Broos emphasises that winning the first match is crucial for providing the squad with the confidence and energy needed to advance to the final.
Bafana are in Group B with Egypt, Angola, and Zimbabwe.
“I want to win that first game because that will give you a lot of advantage in a tournament when you are certainly in a group space when you win your first game,” Broos said.
“That is something that we did not do in our last Afcon, and we had to win the second game, and then there was still a question mark for the third game.
“We will try to avoid that and win our first game against Angola.”
Following their 3-1 victory over Zambia in Gqeberha at the weekend, the coach said his team would play one more friendly before leaving for Morocco.
“I do not want to play two or three more games before we go. We have played against African teams, so we don’t have to play another African team.
“We will try to have very good preparation like we had two years ago. I think the way we played this year and also the year before, we have had very good qualities in the team.
“We have very good players in the team, and we just have to play like South Africa played in the last two or three years. We don’t have to change anything.
“We all know now that we can dominate an opponent and play good football. We also know that if the match must be about fighting, then we must fight.
“And I think those two things are very important to play in an Afcon or a tournament. There will be games that we dominate, but there will be games that we’ll have to fight a lot to win.
“But we can do that also, and it makes us stronger than two years ago when we started the Afcon.”
The coach said there was room for improvement in specific areas.
“Maybe try to be better at some things, like, for example, we had to take more advantage of the space that Zambia gave us behind the defence.
“We have quick players, but we did not use them enough. Those kinds of things, but we have one or two weeks before Afcon to put that right so that if we have a game like this, we can use it.”
The Herald
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