As Bafana Bafana walked down the passage of the Moses Mabhida Stadium towards the dressing room in deadly silence, the men in green followed each other in a single file as if they were on their way to a funeral.
It was an eerie atmosphere down that tunnel. Even the few who watched the scene unfold didn’t say a word to each other as they observed the surreal procession.
It would not be difficult to imagine that the solemn mood extended to the dressing room itself.
Because the goalless draw with Zimbabwe and Benin’s victory over Rwanda saw Benin open a two-point lead over second-placed South Africa, dealing a stunning blow to Hugo Broos’s dream of securing a spot at the 2026 World Cup.
Broos’s Bafana have a massive job going to Tuesday’s final round of the qualifiers in which teams that finish first in the nine African groups gain automatic qualification for the quadrennial soccer showpiece.
Not only do they have to hammer Rwanda by a healthy goal margin, but they also depend on Nigeria defeating Benin to guarantee qualification as group winners.
As dire as the situation appears, the positive from Friday night’s developments was that Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Lesotho in Limpopo threw the Super Eagles a lifeline of possible qualification.
“It is a good thing for us that Nigeria can even be first now in the group. So they have to win against Benin, and then it depends, first of all, if we win and with [so] many goals. And then if Nigeria wins also with [so] many goals,” said Broos.
The biggest danger is now Benin. If we win, okay, Nigeria cannot be over us, but if we don’t win, it’s finished. But if Benin lose, then we can win maybe with two goals difference, then it’s still possible.
— Hugo Broos, Bafana Bafana coach
“The biggest danger is now Benin. If we win, okay, Nigeria cannot be over us, but if we don’t win it’s finished. But if Benin lose, then we can win maybe with two goals difference than it’s still possible. This is something we have to believe in even when it’s a little difficult
“It should be really, really very disappointing if Nigeria wins against Benin and we don’t win against Rwanda. By that defeat we should miss America. A very sad evening but there’s still hope... We have to try.”
Though the Belgian was disappointed with the draw, he declared himself satisfied with Bafana’s performance. “I’m just disappointed about the result. I can’t be disappointed by the performance of the team. They tried everything, they fought for it. Again, they don’t have luck on their side. That’s it.
“I can’t blame this player or that player, that they didn’t do this or that. We did what we had to do, we tried everything, with shots… with whatever combination. But sometimes the ball didn’t fall good, there were other moments the luck was not on our side. That’s all,” said Broos.
Bafana will face Rwanda sans the services of central defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi who received a red card for a second bookable offence.
Broos said the sending off will teach Mbokazi how to deal with aggression. “That shows also a little bit the mentality of ‘Mbokie’. This guy got frustrated and knew that with the result we should have been in trouble. He twice had the aggression of the Zimbabwe player made him nervous then he has something that a young player does.
“So I don’t blame him for that. It’s something he has to learn. He’s still 19 [he turned 20 on September 19], what do you want, this guy wants to win. You see that in his way of playing.
“The player of Zimbabwe two times went so aggressively to him. You can’t accept it, but you can understand that it happens. Okay, that red card was not the reason why today we didn’t win the game.”
Broos gave a thumbs up to Sipho Mbule’s performance, saying he “played a very good game”. He added: “I said at half-time that he has to be more involved in our game. You saw in the second half when he’s many times on the ball there’s always something good that happens. Again, I think after the last games with Lesotho, Nigeria and again today, we can be very happy with Sipho.”
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