Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has denied that they are regressing under his leadership after a last-16 Africa Cup of Nations exit ion Morocco.
After qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and finishing the 2023 AFCON with a bronze medal, there were high hopes for the South African national team heading to North Africa for the winter showpiece.
However, the 2-1 exit to Cameroon at Al-Medina Stadium in Rabat has put Broos under the spotlight, with the Belgian coach saying, in his own words, that anything less than bronze again, should be considered failure.
In a match were Bafana could have been clear by potentially three goals in the opening ten minutes, the Indomitable Lions made them pay with goals on either side of the half-time break via Junior Tchamadeu and Christian Kofane in the 34th and 47th minute respectively.
Evidence Makgopa netted a late consolation in the 88th minute, but it was too little too late, which Broos acknowledged was a game where his side was devoid of luck, something he felt they had in Ivory Coast two years ago.
“We’re not going backwards certainly not. Okay I agree with you in certain games the performances were not at the level of South Africa that everyone knows, but you can’t say that for today,” Broos said.
“Sometimes you need luck on your side, and we had that two years ago against Cape Verde in the quarter final. Ten seconds before the end Ronwen [Williams] did a fantastic save and we could have lost that game…
“We didn’t have that luck – we conceded too many goals yes, last AFCON we only conceded two or three – the whole tournament, but we’re not going backwards, certainly not but on the other side we have to make a good evaluation of what happened here in this tournament and I’m looking forward to the World Cup.”
Cameroon will now face hosts Morocco in the quarter-finals, while Mali and Senegal is the other confirmed last eight tie so far in the competition.
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