Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos FILE - Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos. Photo: Franck Fife/AFP
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos hopes his team can continue their trajectory after an impressive showing at the recently completed Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
South Africa had a somewhat successful campaign, which saw them reach the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time since the year 2000.
After knocking out African powerhouses Morocco, Broos’ men eventually fell to Nigeria, and managed to pick themselves up again to claim the bronze medal.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday afternoon, Broos said: “I hope we can continue what we put together in Afcon. We saw what South Africa can do. We showed it several times at Afcon, so I hope we can go on now in the two games that we have to play.”
Bafana’s two friendlies will be against European minnows Andorra on Thursday, and next week Tuesday against Algeria.
With a number of senior stars in the team already in their 30s, the friendlies will be an opportunity for Broos to blood in some younger players as they prepare the team for the future.
“We have some new players, younger players with us. I hope that maybe they can show me that I can count on them for the next months, for the qualifiers for the World Cup and Afcon, and that maybe little by little, we can put those players in the team.
“That’s what we want to do in the next few months, besides to qualify for Afcon and World Cup.
However, one of the “young” players who won’t have a chance to impress Broos is 26-year-old Siyabonga Ngezana, who plays for Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest.
The former Kaizer Chiefs man has had a good start to like in Romania, but was left out of Bafana’ Afcon squad. For the friendlies in Algeria, he was unable to travel, and Broos has explained why.
“Ngezana lost his documents and couldn’t leave Romania,” Broos added.
“Ngezana had a very good season … but now he doesn’t have his documents, so it is not because of us (that he misses out), it is because of him.”
IOL Sport