Bafana's Broos targets victory over Zimbabwe in crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier
A victory for Bafana will take them level on points with the current leaders in their group, Benin.
South Africa’s Belgian head coach Hugo Broos gives a press conference on the eve of the friendly football match between France and South Africa at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium in Villeneuve d'Ascq, near Lille, northern France, on 28 March 2022. Picture: AFP
JOHANNESBURG - Bafana Bafana play Zimbabwe in a crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Bloemfontein on Tuesday evening.
Coach Hugo Broos targeted four points from their two games in June and they are on course to reach that goal after a 1-1 draw with Nigeria last Friday.
A victory for Bafana will take them level on points with the current leaders in their group, Benin. More importantly, they’ll be in control of their destiny ahead of the next set of qualifiers in March next year against Lesotho and Benin.
Benin did Bafana a favour by beating the Super Eagles in the qualifier between the two teams on Monday night and the AFCON bronze medallists will need to beat The Warriors on Tuesday night to capitalise on that result. Broos declared that only one outcome was acceptable from Tuesday night’s game.
"We have to win it. I will not be happy, and I think, not I alone - all of South Africa will not be happy if we don’t win," Broos said
One of the reasons Broos has added confidence in his players being up to the task is the resilience they showed and the performance they produce after they endured a nightmare trip to Nigeria last week where they spent more than 24 hours in transit.
"What makes me proud and happy is that the mentality of our team is fantastic. I think if that happened three years ago, we would never have had a performance like we did on Friday. The guys showed a mentality that they wanted to win that game, you saw it from the beginning of that game. We could’ve won that game, we had chances," said Broos
There are seven games left to play and only the group winners will qualify for the 2026 tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Broos said that the key to qualifying was making sure they win their home games.
Bafana last played at the Free State Stadium in 2010 in a 2-1 victory over France at the FIFA World Cup. A fervent crowd is expected at the venue where the people of the province have been starved of top-class football after the sale of jewel of the city, Bloemfontein Celtic, in August 2021.
Kick-off at the Free State Stadium is at 6PM.