Even though he’s sure about taking Bafana Bafana to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast, Hugo Broos has maintained that qualifying for the tournament is not going to be easy.
The Bafana Bafana coach said this as he’s busy preparing to play their first qualifier, which is is an away match against Morocco at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on Thursday, 9 June.
Bafana are in a three-team Group K together with Morocco and Liberia. Zimbabwe, who were the fourth team in the group, have been suspended by FIFA.
“This is a new chapter we start after the World Cup qualifiers last year. I will try to qualify us for AFCON. After the suspension of Zimbabwe I heard people saying it will be easy. No, it will not be easy,” the Belgian said.
“Qualifying is not easy. Maybe we have more chances now to qualify. It’s possible that with two victories against Liberia in September we will qualify. We have to win two times.”
The 70-year-old former Indomitable Lions mentor, who won the 2017 AFCON tournament with Cameroon, has insisted that respecting their opponents is key.
“We have to respect the opponents, even Liberia. Morocco are quality opponents. It will be a tough game, I’m sure of it. We will try to have a good start, no defeat. I believe we can do it. I have confidence in my team,” he said.
Meanwhile, Broos has voiced his displeasure at people who criticised him after he failed to take Bafana to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“The World Cup qualifiers, I think for me it was a success with a disappointing end because we lost the last game. For me, I had a new team, a young team, an inexperienced team,” Broos remarked.
“From the six games, we won four games, drawn one, lost the last one. We had 13 points. In the last 10, 12 years all the qualifiers you never had 13 points. The maximum was 12 and seven. That means that was not bad what we did.”
