‘Most important is to think how to be successful on Tuesday,’ said the Bafana forward.
Bafana Bafana forward Oswin Appollis admits that South Africa’s players have started to dream of qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
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The Orlando Pirates attacker, however, says Bafana must now fully concentrate on a massive Group C qualifier against Nigeria at the Free State Stadium on Tuesday (kick off 6pm).
Bafana five points clear
Bafana are currently five points clear of Benin at the top of Group C, with just three games left to play in the qualification campaign. Only the group winners are guaranteed a spot in the USA, Canada and Mexico next year.
“Obviously it (the World Cup finals) is on all our minds,” said Appolis in an interview with Eyewitness News.
“But this game is going to be very difficult, and we don’t want to think about that now.
“Most important is to think how to be successful on Tuesday and how to overcome the opponents we are facing.”
While Bafana continued their fine run in qualifying with a 3-0 win over Lesotho on Friday, Nigeria kept their hopes of winning the group just about alive with a 1-0 win at home to Rwanda on Saturday.
It has been a generally disappointing campaign for the star-studded Super Eagles, who are six points behind Bafana heading into tomorrow’s match.
“We are playing a Nigerian team with so much talent playing in Europe,” added Appollis.
“They have won trophies, some of them play in the (English) Premier League so it is motivating for us as South Africans to play these big teams.”
‘An amazing person’
Hugo Broos has transformed the fortunes of Bafana since taking over as head coach in 2021.
And Appollis has been just one of the Bafana attackers to excel under the Belgian.
He scored twice and had four assists as Bafana qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals. And on Friday the 24 year-old scored his first goal of World Cup qualifying to go with two assists up to now.
“He is an amazing person, the first day I met him he was calm and quiet,” said Appollis on Broos.
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“The more I came to Bafana, the more I realised that he is not just a good coach, but also a good person. South Africans should be grateful to have a coach like Hugo.”