Broos believes he is starting to solve the Bafana puzzle

Hugo Broos believes the Bafana Bafana he always wanted to build is starting to take shape, but has warned that there is still work to do ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast next year.

Bafana will play Morocco on Saturday at FNB Stadium in their final Group K qualifier, with the sense of relaxation around the squad no doubt improved by the fact that Broos’ side, along with the Atlas Lions, have already qualified for the Afcon finals.

Broos does now have a settled-looking squad on which to rely, and says that he believes his side now understands his coaching philosophy.

“This (a settled squad) is something we have built up in the last two years,” said Broos this week.

“We searched a lot and built the squad up with a lot of players and by September the puzzle was complete. We had a group that was hungry, with a good mentality. You can see this in the way they treat each other, and in how training is. In the little games we play in training, both teams want to win. They are really serious in the exercises we do, that is a big difference compared to a year ago or more.

“Then, the boys didn’t really understand what we wanted, now they are really a group, there is a lot of harmony between them, but they are working hard for their positions, they are very competitive, they want to be in the team.

Progress still required

“The search took a bit longer than expected but now we have the players we want to go on working with, and there is a big progression if you compare now to last September, or even to last June when we played Morocco (Bafana lost 2-1 to the Atlas Lions in their opening Afcon qualifier).

“So the progression is there but we still have to achieve some things and progress more with some things.”

Broos finally had his full complement of players by yesterday morning after St Louis SC midfielder Njabulo Blom arrived in camp, following two days of travelling from the USA. Kick off on Saturday is at 5pm.