Broos delighted as dominant Bafana maul Atlas Lions

Hugo Broos was understandably effusive in his praise of his Bafana Bafana side, after they took down Morocco 2-1 in an African Nations Cup Group K qualifier at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

In front of a healthy crowd of over 50 000 supporters, Bafana dominated the World Cup semifinalists for much of the game, though there was a slight caveat in that this was effectively a dead rubber, with both teams already qualified for next year’s Afcon in the Ivory Coast.

Bafana’s goals came from Percy Tau, via a horrible error from Morocco goalkeeper Monir El Kajoui, and Zakhele Lepasa, who paid tribute to the late Clive Barker with his ‘aeroplane’ celebration. Hakim Ziyech walloped in a brilliant strike for Morocco, but despite some nervous moments at the end, Bafana grabbed the three points and top spot in Group K, though the Atlas Lions still have to play Liberia at home in September.

“I am very happy today,” said Broos after the match.

“Not only because we won … I think we deserved to win, if you see the chances we had, but I am more happy with the performance.

“I said before the game that the result was not important, but I would like to see a good performance … I think you saw a team that has made enormous progress over the last months. We played a very good team and were never dominated.

“On the contrary, we sometimes dominated them .. we had three or four very good chances to score. Maybe Morocco had one or two, but we were on top from the first to last minute of the game.

“We still have to improve, but if we can do that … we can also make a great Afcon, and do well in the two World Cup qualifying games in November.”

Lepasa’s goal was his second in as many matches for Bafana, after also scoring a key goal against Liberia in Afcon qualifying.

“Zakhele is always a player who has problems in his club. He didn’t play at Pirates and at SuperSport he didn’t play every game, or only played parts of the game. I don’t understand this,” said Broos.

“I give him confidence, I know he is a good striker, but you still have to give him that confidence. He still has to improve but I am very happy with him. He scored an important goal against Liberia, I don’t think it is nice for defenders to play against him. He has good movement, he is quick, he does the things you ask of him … for me it is a surprise he is not a regular player at his club.”