Bafana’s Broos praises ‘new team’ despite Andorra draw

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos believes some players did raise their hands for future selection, even though his much-changed side played out a disappointing 1-1 draw with European minnows Andorra on Thursday in the Fifa International Series in Annaba, Algeria.

Broos gave four players – Thapelo Xoki, Patrick Maswanganyi, Elias Mokwana and Mlondi Mbanjwa – their debuts in this friendly, while none of the Mamelodi Sundowns players that formed the core of Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations side started the match.

A horrendous early mistake from goalkeeper Ricardo Goss handed Andorra the lead, and Mokwana equalised in the 25^th minute, but Bafana should really have beaten a tiny European nation placed so far below them in the global rankings

“We saw today what I said before the game. This is a team that is very defensive and physical. They always look for the duels and play the man first, that is their style,” Broos told Safa media after the match.

“It is very difficult, they lose nearly every game but always only by one goal. That could have happened today, we gave it (a goal) away easily, but after that we had six or seven good chances to score.”

Broos could be accused of cherry-picking statistics here, given that among their last five matches Andorra have lost 2-0 to Israel, 4-0 to Romania, 3-0 to Kosovo and 3-0 to Switzerland.

Chances to win

The Bafana coach was correct in that his side created enough chances to win the match, with Mokwana particularly impressve, especially in the first half. Maswanganyi and Mbanjwa also got themselves into good positions, but could not supply a finishing touch.

All three must be in contention for a place in the squad for the Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria and Zimbabwe in June.

“I am satisfied, not with the result, we tried to win, but I am satisfied with the performance. This is a totally new team and some players gave me much satisfaction. I think these are players we can count on for the games in June and and at the end of the year.”

Bafana will now play Algeria in Algiers on Tuesday, with Broos expected to return to his strongest line-up against a North African powerhouse.