Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is confident that his team will bounce back and beat Liberia back-to-back in their 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers in September.
He says this after Bafana Bafana lost 2-1 to Morocco in the first qualifying match on Thursday night in Rabat.
Broos’ team will host Liberia on the 21st of September and then travel to the West African country five days later.
The two top teams in each group will automatically qualify for the prestigious biennial event, that will be held in Ivory Coast next year.
Group K only has three teams after Zimbabwe was banned by the world governing body FIFA and CAF.
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is confident that his team will beat Liberia twice. “For sure we know what to do now in September so I was not disappointed by the performance today, we fought for it, we played against a very strong Moroccan team, so that was good, so let’s hope that we can do it twice in September, hopefully with two victories.”
Bafana scored first in their Group K encounter through Lyle Foster in the eighth minute but goals from Youssef En-Nesyri in the 51st-minute and Ayoub El-Kaabi in the 87th-minute sealed the comeback for the hosts.
‘Disappointed’
Broos says he was disappointed with the loss but not with the performance. “The longest time of the game I thought we could win, and after the goal, we received okay I was happy with the point and the second goal close to the end was disappointing.”
Bafana were down to 10 men when the second goal was scored late in the match after the 23-year-old Sphephelo Sithole was injured.
Broos says they were waiting for the ball to go out. “We were waiting for the ball to go out and the ball stays in and then we lose the ball in a very simple way. After that, it was 2-1. We asked him during halftime, he said no problem and when we see there is a problem and you cannot change immediately and as we played with ten we received a goal.”
Broos was seen confronting the fourth official at the end of the match in an alleged protest. He says he was lamenting the fact that time added on wasn’t adhered to.
“They said four minutes more and they only played two minutes that’s why we were asking what is the problem you said four and the referee only played two minutes more and it’s okay he whistled the end and you can’t change it.”
Meanwhile, Bafana Bafana’s friendly match against Iran was cancelled at the eleventh hour, which means the team won’t play a match in the June FIFA international calendar.
