Bafana ready to face Egypt in tough Afcon group
- Coach Hugo Broos believes Bafana Bafana can match seven-time champions Egypt in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
- South Africa will also face familiar rivals Zimbabwe and Angola in Group B of the tournament in Morocco.
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says his team can go far in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) despite being drawn in a tough group.
South Africa will face Egypt, Zimbabwe and Angola in Group B of the tournament in Morocco late this year; the tournament will run from 21 Dec 2025 to 18 Jan 2026.
After winning bronze in Ivory Coast in the 2023 edition, Bafana wants to do even better next time.
“In general, I think we can be satisfied. It is not an easy group. On the other hand, I think we have a great opportunity to qualify for the next round of the Afcon,” Broos told the Safa media department.
“And then as you know, after the group stages of Afcon anything is possible. So, we will do everything to do better than the last Afcon.”
Broos says Egypt, also known as The Pharoahs, will be their biggest challenge, even though the seven-time champions had a poor tournament last time out.
“They didn’t do well at the last Afcon, they didn’t perform like everybody expected and they were soon out of the tournament,” he said.
“But I think in the last year and a half they have built a good team. They did well in the qualifiers, so they will be the team to beat for first place.”
Bafana are very familiar with Zimbabwe, having played them many times recently.
“This is the fourth time we have played against Zimbabwe. We played against them in the qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup in Qatar and we played against them for the qualification of the last Afcon, but they were suspended,” said Broos.
The coach admits he doesn’t know much about Angola yet.
“Angola is a team I don’t know well. So, it will be important to do a good analysis of our opponent Angola and to be well prepared to play that game.”
Pictured above: Hugo Broos.
Source: File