Dare one dream? Broos’ Bafana show signs of life as he targets a ‘great Afcon’

Hugo Broos could not have asked for a better confidence boost and advertisement to purchase bundles of buy-in from the South African public in his direction with Bafana Bafana than a monumental shock of 2022 World Cup semifinalists Morocco.

Making Saturday’s 2-1 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying Group K win against the continent’s No 1-ranked team at FNB Stadium more satisfying for Broos would have been the performance.

The coach prioritised a good display from his team over the result in the build-up. He got the best of his tenure so far.

Every step forward with a team as fragile as Bafana comes with caveats. The sceptics — and after two decades of underperformance and false dawns, there are plenty and their argument would be justified — will point out that Bafana have been known to punctuate their mediocrity with the odd spectacular result.

Saturday’s match was a dead rubber as both teams had qualified. It will take a lot more than just a one-off shock win — such as others in the last decade against Spain, Nigeria and Egypt, for example — for South Africa’s beleaguered national team to be considered on a path to recovery.

Still, after such a performance, Broos could be permitted taking a small bow, acknowledging himself that it should not be taken as any form of arrival.

“I said before the game the result was not important but I would like to see a good performance and the progress we made in the past few months,” the coach said.

“I think, and I would hope you would agree, we saw a team that has made enormous progress.

“We played against a very good team. We were never dominated. On the contrary, we often dominated.

“We had three, four very good chances to score. If I remember there were one or two for Morocco. So that means we were in the game from the first to the last minute.

“I’m happy I have managed to give confidence to this group of players. I believed in them even when some people didn’t.

“Because I made bad choices. I didn’t understand the South African culture.

“But you see, you don’t build a team in one day. You need time. And in that time defeats can be very useful. So we had defeats, but we learnt a lot from them.

“And you see a team that’s a block, that plays good football, that creates chances. And we still have to improve, that’s for sure. But if we can do that in the coming months I think we can also produce a great Afcon in January.

“And with the two World Cup qualification games in November, this has to be our next goal.”

Just three months ago Broos was facing a justified crescendo of derision for inexcusably walking off the field before the end of his team’s shock home Nations Cup qualifying draw against Liberia at Orlando Stadium.

That was one of the low points in the at times rocky two-year tenure of the sometimes cantankerous 71-year-old Belgian. Another was a 5-0 friendly humbling against a superb France in Lens in March last year.

There have been many positive signs, too. Broos picked young players whose energy and fearlessness saw them run Ghana close in the 2022 World Cup qualifying group stage.

His admission that when he first arrived he was establishing the lay of the land and made “bad choices” seemed to contain a hint of sarcasm in response to the perceived criticisms he has supposedly received. He has often lashed back at those even though media censure for Broos has generally been far more muted than for many other Bafana coaches.

And generally there has been support for the youth policy, and a decent combination that has been appearing to emerge under the coach.

In a long career Broos has played a part in many players’ careers, including in Belgium and Cameroon, where he won the 2017 Nations Cup with a young combination. He took the late Anele Ngcongca from lower-tier WP United to Racing Genk in 2007.

Bafana bounced back from their Liberia embarrassment in Orlando to beat the Lone Stars in Monrovia and reach the Afcon. They’ve followed that up with a huge win against Morocco.

The two games in November for the beginning of the 2026 World Cup qualifying group stage — the draw is on July 13 — will be a further competitive building opportunity towards the Nations Cup finals in January and February.

And perhaps Broos is right — perhaps, with things progressing as they are, Bafana could even make an impact in Ivory Coast.

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