AFCON Qualifiers: Broos wants Bafana to go for two wins against Congo

JOHANNESBURG - Bafana Bafana are back in action and will be up against Congo on Friday night in an AFCON 2025 qualifier in Gqeberha.

They will play the same opponents in the return fixture in Brazzaville next Tuesday.

Ahead of the games, coach Hugo Broos says he'll only be satisfied with two wins to keep their qualifying destiny in their own hands and escape heaping pressure on themselves in the later stages of the campaign.

Bafana teams of the past had been ridiculed for needing complex calculations to work out what they needed to secure qualification and often missing the mark.

"As I said, and I will not change that, we want to have 6 [points] out of 6 to avoid the stress in November where you need another victory, or I don’t know what. We had that experience 3 years ago with Ghana and we’ll try to avoid that," Broos said.

Broos has also warned his players against complacency ahead of their home fixture. The Congolese squad left their travel arrangements to the last minute and only arrived in the country on Thursday and had one training session before the game. 

READ: Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos selects final 2025 AFCON qualifiers squad

Broos says their opponents will still be up for it despite their less-than-perfect plans and little time to acclimatise.

“Those are professional players and I’ve said it before that AFCON is the most important thing for an African player, maybe even more than the World Cup. They will be ready tomorrow and maybe their preparation was not ideal but they’re professionals and certainly, at the start of the game they’ll be motivated and try to get a good result here,” Broos said.

A packed Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium crowd is expected for the encounter and Broos hopes their support will motivate the team to perform at their best.

Kick-off in Gqeberha is at 19:00.