Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos says following South Africa’s good run in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the focus will now shift to the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
South Africa will face the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this evening to determine the nation that finishes number three in the continental football tournament. Both countries lost their semi-final clashes to Nigeria and hosts Ivory Coast respectively.
Tonight’s match starts at ten o’clock. This will be the eighth meeting between the two nations. South Africa have the upper hand, having won five previous matches.
AFCON I Bafana Bafana aim for 3rd position against the DRC on Saturday:
Broos says the focus is on the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers resuming against Nigeria in June.
“South Africa needs friendly games against the big things, that’s where you learn something. So all six games we played here in this level helped us a lot and make our chances bigger to qualify for the world cup. And this is where we have to focus on, we have to focus to be in the world cup. After 23 years we are in the semi-final of the AFCON so the next focus will be now will be in the world cup of 2026.”
Bafana Bafana players have started believing in themselves after their performance in the AFCON tournament. Defender Siyanda Xulu says they are pushing to win the bronze medal.
“Yes we wanted to take it home. Yes it was a dream for us and we managed to reach the semi-finals which was a massive step for us as a team looking at where we coming from in the past few years. So we are extremely happy with the progress of the team of us as South Africans.”
