‘I am happy, it could have been worse’ — Bafana coach Hugo Broos reacts to Afcon draw

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has reacted with a smile to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) draw that pitted South Africa with Tunisia, Mali and Namibia in Group E for the tournament in January in Côte d'Ivoire. 

Bafana last appeared at Afcon in 2019 where they were knocked out by Nigeria in the last 8 and Broos is confident they will be able to get out of the group stages. 

“Obviously I am not unhappy when you see the teams in our group,” he said as he reflected on the draw that has also been welcomed by many South Africans football lovers as reasonable after they avoided some of the traditional big teams. 

“I think in Mali and Tunisia we have big teams but I prefer to have Tunisia and Mali than to have Senegal or Ivory Coast. We know Namibia and I think we can achieve our best level and get through to the group stages.  

“Our preparations at the moment are disturbed by injuries but we are three months away from the tournament and I am certainly not panicking.” 

Bafana Bafana were in Pot Three for the draw and Broos said he expected to be drawn against two difficult teams. 

“When you are in Pot Three, you don’t have to hope much because there are always two big teams in your group. What you see with Tunisia, they are certainly a big team also, they are a little bit less than Morocco, Senegal or the Côte d'Ivoire. 

“Mali is not really the big team at the moment but it will be tough because they are good teams. I am happy with the draw because it could have been worse.” 

Bafana take on Côte d'Ivoire in an international friendly on Tuesday in Abidjan and Broos said it is good for the players to play in front of a big crowd and be tested by a quality team. 

“For us I think it is going to a good game because we are going to confronted with one of the best teams in Africa. We are going to play in a full stadium and against the host nation and this is good. It has been a few years since South Africa played on front of 30,000 to 40,000 people.  

“That will be the case next Tuesday in Abidjan but that will be a good experience for us because at Afcon we will be playing in front of full stadiums.” 

Looking ahead to the coming weeks of preparations for World Cup qualifiers and Afcon, Broos said he hopes for no more injuries. 

“I hope players who were injured over the past few matches can recuperate and we work towards the World Cup qualifiers and then Afcon. There is nothing bad for the moment but let's hope there are no more injuries and we can start to prepare the team.”