Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says mense musn’t criticise his team if they lose to World Cup semifinalists Morocco on Saturday.
South Africa host the Atlas Lions at FNB Stadium in their final Afcon 2023 Group K qualifier, with both spanne having already booked their places in Cote d’Ivoire next year.
Since Bafana lost the reverse fixture in Rabat last June 2-1, the Moroccans fired Vahid Halilhodzic in August, replaced him with Walid Regragui and stormed to a historic fourth-place finish at the World Cup - the best by an African nation - in Qatar last December.
#COMESHOWYOURLOVE ❤️ for @BafanaBafana 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 vs Morocco 🇲![CDATA[]]>🇦 in their CAF AFCON qualifier 😉![CDATA[]]>😉
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) June 13, 2023
🗓 17 June 2023
🏟FNB
🕝 5pm @CAF_Media@SAFA_net@GautengProvince@CastleLagerSA@LeCoqSportif_SA @SABC_Sport pic.twitter.com/MWpPlVE4FT
And Broos says ahead of the clash: “Don’t start criticising this team if they lose. We’re playing against the team that finished fourth at the World Cup - that is a fantastic performance from an African team.
“Player by player, they all play for big teams.
“So if we lose that game, it will be a good game to learn a lot to have a good Afcon.”
Broos also doesn’t want mense to get too excited should his team win the clash, adding: “On the other hand, if we should win, don’t think that we have a world-class team.
“It will give us a boost if we beat Morocco… but we still have a lot of work to do.
“This game is only a test for us to see how far we have come from the game in Morocco last year.
“On Saturday, our performance is the most important thing.”