Image source: Alamy Stock Image
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos expecting a tough battle from Angola in the opening match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at the Grand Stade de Marrakech on Monday.
Bafana, who left for Morocco on Wednesday, wrapped up the home leg of their preparations with an unconvincing but important 1-0 win over Ghana’s Chan side at Dobsonville Stadium on Tuesday.
“I saw Angola playing in one of their qualifiers at home, they lost that game 1-0 but if they played that match ten times, they will win nine times,” said Broos on the threat posed by Angola.
"They are a good team and there is no doubt about that. They have good and technically gifted players and they have a new coach who offers them something extra.
“Players will also want to something to the new coach (Patrice Beaumelle) and that means we are going to have a tough opponent next week.”
Though he pointed out Angola are going to be difficult to beat, Broos said he has confidence in his team to start the tournament with a won and calm tournament nerves.
“On the other side, I believe in my team and I believe in what we have already done over the past months. We managed to beat better opponents than them and we don’t have to be afraid of them, so we must be confident of ourselves.
“They are not going to give us presents, we will have to play to our highest level to get the win. We don’t have to win by 2-0 or 3-0, we just need to get a win and will be good for us.”
Looking back at the narrow practice match win over Ghana, Broos was happy with the result but not the performance.
“A game that comes a few days before the tournament is sometimes not the game you want to see. I am happy with the result because we wanted to go to Morocco with a victory than with a draw or defeat in the worst case.
“I think we can be much better than we were against Ghana. Maybe the tournament played in the minds of the players with fear of injuries. We also had the new boys and it was a big difference for them to be playing at this level ahead of a big tournament.
“On the other side, I am not worried because we still have four days to put finishing touches and I am sure we will be ready on Monday to play against Angola in our opening match of the tournament.”
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