Broos Braced For Tough World Cup Qualifiers
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says he is expecting tough encounters against Lesotho and Benin in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as they look to secure a spot in the global showpiece set to be jointly hosted by USA, Mexico, and Canada.
Broos’ charges will entertain Likuena at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium on Friday, 21 March before jetting off to a neutral venue in Ivory Coast where they will tackle the stubborn Cheetahs at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny.
The 2023 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) bronze medalists are currently in second place with seven points accumulated – level with table-toppers Rwanda and third-placed Benin. Lesotho, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe round up the group in fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively.
Ahead of the two clashes, the 72-year-old Belgian mentor highlighted the importance of the matches in their quest for a World Cup berth but cautioned that claiming six out of six points won’t be an easy task to achieve.
“As everybody knows, it’s important games in front of us – it’s a key moment as I’ve already said before. If we can achieve two victories now against Lesotho and Benin we can make a big step to qualification,” Broos said.
“We certainly also have to take into account the other games, so we will try to do it but on the other side, we know that it will be tough games. First of all, Lesotho, they are a team that fights for each other and every ball.
“And they’re playing against South Africa, so I think they can always do something more against South Africa than against any other team. So, again it will be a tough game.”
On Genot Gohr’s troops, Broos says his team will have a slight advantage in the tie as the two sides will lock horns in a neutral venue, depriving the Cheetahs the opportunity to bank on their 12th man on home soil.
“And then we have the game outside against Benin. The only advantage we have is that Benin is playing in Ivory Coast, so the big crowd with their supporters won’t be there and that is a little advantage for us,” he added.
“But again, we saw what the game was like more than a year ago, I think we played in Johannesburg (Durban), we won 2-1 but it was a very difficult game. So, it will be a difficult game also in Ivory Coast next week, but we have to be confident that we can do that – a six [points] out six [points].
Furthermore, the 2017 AFCON winner with Cameroon believes mentality will come in handy more than quality in these two crucial games as they set their sights on strengthening their qualification chances with the two nations’ scalps.
“But maybe for these two games mentality will be more important than quality. We need to have the right mindset to play those two games, and I think then we can succeed in having a six-on-six, ” Broos, who was appointed in May 2021 continued.
