Broos stresses importance of Bafana win over Swaziland

Hugo Broos has explained why Bafana Bafana are playing Eswatini and the Ivory Coast in international friendlies over the next week.

The Bafana head coach sees the matches as important preparation for next month’s opening two 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, and for the Africa Cup of Nations finals next year, which will take place in the Ivory Coast.

The draw for the Afcon finals will take place in Abidjan tomorrow.

Bafana will play Benin at home and Rwanda away from home in Group C World Cup qualifiers next month.

“First we have Eswatini, we thought this was the best preparation for the November qualifiers,” said Broos.

“These should be teams playing the same way, they (Rwanda and Benin) will not be teams trying to win, they will be trying not to lose, so … it is good preparation.

“The Ivory Coast is a totally different match. It is more (geared) towards the Afcon, we are playing a strong team and they are in their home environment. It will be like being in the Afcon with a full stadium, a fantastic atmosphere against a good team. So I am very happy with the two opponents.”

Broos also emphasised the importance of beating Eswatini at Orlando Stadium on Friday, after his side could only manage a disappointing goalless draw with Namibia at the same venue last month.

He is placing less weight on the result of Tuesday’s game in Abidjan.

‘The Ivory Coast is something else’

“It is very important to win and not have the same problems as we did against Namibia, where we didn’t play well and made mistakes,” he said.

“The Ivory Coast is something else. (But) the performance is very important and I hope we can get a good and positive result.”

Broos is expected to field his strongest side possible in both games, given these are the last friendlies before the competitive action begins next month.

He does have his injury problems again, with Bathusi Aubaas, Thapelo Morena, Innocent Maela and Thapelo Maseko all out of the squad, while Percy Tau is missing for family reasons, after asking to be excused.