Hugo Broos, coach of South Africa. Picture: Muzi Ntombela, BackpagePix
It was already job done ahead of Bafana Bafana’s penultimate Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Uganda on Friday, but Hugo Broos and his troops did the business once more to leave them in prime position for an even greater achievement.
That achievement would be finishing top of Afcon qualifier Group K which would ensure Bafana have a top seeding for the tournament in 2025. With their 2-0 win over hosts Uganda on Friday, Bafana moved to 11 points, one ahead of Uganda with one game remaining.
Ahead of their clash, both teams had already qualified for Afcon with two games to spare, due to a favourable result between Congo and South Sudan on Thursday.
Hosts South Sudan beat Congo 3-2 in their Group K qualifier. As a result, the bottom-placed South Sudan ended the slim hopes Congo had of making it to the tournament in Morocco next year.
South Sudan next up
Next up for Bafana is the final qualifier against South Sudan in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Broos said it would be no small feat if his side did indeed finish top of their group.
“Let's say we win on Tuesday, we will have 14 points and that’s a lot. There were some games we should have won, especially against Uganda at home,” said Broos.
“It was important for us to win here in Uganda and go top in the group. Nobody can say we are lucky, like they said after the defeat of Congo by South Sudan during the week. We proved that we don’t need luck and we can win our own games when it matters the most.
“We will have 14 points if we win on Tuesday and we will be deserving of qualification for Afcon.”
Things didn’t go all the way of Bafana on Friday though, as neither side could muster a shot on goal during the first 45 minutes of the match.
South Africa finally found their first shot on target, and with it the opening goal with the second half in its infancy when Thapelo Morena put Bafana ahead. South Africa doubled their lead just before full time as Patrick Maswanganyi bagged another goal for his country.
“I am very happy that we won the game today. It was a difficult game, especially in the first half where we played too slow. We had chances in the first half but there was good defence from Uganda,” said Broos.
“Our game was better in the second half where we easily found the deep man and that was a problem for Uganda and we scored in the right moments. We came here to win so that we can move to second spot in the group and we will try to win again on Tuesday against South Sudan.”
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