Pieces in place for Bafana to win Afcon ― Broos, of course, is urging caution

Hugo Broos was on form at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria on Wednesday.

When the Bafana Bafana coach was not chastising 20-year-old centreback Mbekezeli Mbokazi for his lack of discipline arriving late to camp, he was reminding everyone that his team would not start the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco remotely as favourites and would have to work much harder to earn that tag.

It is unclear if Broos’s frustration over Mbokazi’s late arrival at Bafana’s pre-Afcon camp in Pretoria, ahead of their departure to Morocco on Wednesday that follows a friendly training match in Gauteng against Ghana on Tuesday, was fuelled by the defensive prodigy’s move to Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer (MLS).

The US league has been the target of Broos’ ire before when Bafana players have moved there; the 73-year-old Belgian believes the league is not suited for South African players. Broos often avoids calling up players once they have moved to MLS.

More crucially, Broos was realistic about Bafana’s chances at the 2025 Afcon, despite his success with the team in 2024 in Ivory Coast, where the South Africans enjoyed their best finish in 24 years, winning the bronze medal.

Broos is right not to overstate South Africa’s chances, as their record across the 11 Afcons since readmission, four of which they did not qualify for, is inconsistent and sometimes dismal.

Bafana won the Afcon on home soil in 1996 under the late Clive Barker and, while they showed promise by finishing runners-up in 1998 and third in 2000, their performance afterwards showed a steady decline into embarrassment until Broos’s team placed third.

In the seven tournaments they did reach — 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2015 and 2019 — Bafana’s last eight placings in 2002 and 2013 were their best efforts. The 2006 edition, where Ted Dumitru was head coach, was the worst, as the team was eliminated in the first round without scoring a goal while conceding five in a Group C that included Guinea, Tunisia and Zambia.

“First of all the draw of Afcon [2025] is not bad,” said Broos of opponents Angola, Egypt and Zimbabwe, whom Bafana will face in Group B in Morocco. “It’s a little bit tricky especially with a team like Angola.

“Two months ago I didn’t know so much about Angola, but once the draw was made I was looking at them. It’s not a bad team with all their players playing abroad. You can’t judge what you can expect [against Angola] ― it’s our first game and you know when you’re in a tournament like this, it is very important to win your first game.

“You saw in the previous Afcon we lost our opening game against Mali [2-0]. We’ll have to avoid doing that again because our second game is against Egypt. That [Angola] is the game you have to win because if you don’t it becomes very difficult.”

Broos, who won the 2017 Afcon with a young Cameroon, stressed the world’s third-ranked national continental tournament is ultra-tough to progress in, let alone win. Top-ranked nations often battle ― former champions Algeria, Ghana, Tunisia and Zambia were knocked out in the first round in Ivory Coast in 2024. And Bafana have a target on their backs in Morocco.

“I’ve said it before, Afcon is very intense and certainly now with the status we have, it will be difficult.”

Given what the team achieved against all odds in Ivory Coast, Broos was not ruling out Bafana being the dark horses in Morocco, acknowledging their progress of no losses in more than 20 matches since their defeat against Mali in the opening game of the last Afcon.

“It will be disappointing if we don’t survive the group stages. We can’t afford to do that because there will be a bit more pressure when we start the games in two weeks’ time. On the other side we need to have the ambition [to win the title] after our third place in the previous Afcon. We should do at least the same or even try to do more.

“I think we have a good team and when you have the opportunity presented by that you have to grab it because maybe it will not return tomorrow or in the near future. I think we are ready to do it. We have the quality and the mentality and so our ambition has to be the semifinals. We have a lot of experience now and I think we’re becoming better.”

Much burgeoning young talent has come into Bafana since the last Nations Cup. They pushed nemeses Nigeria to penalties in their semifinal defeat in 2024 and shocked 2022 World Cup quarterfinalists Morocco in the last 16. With a better team in Morocco, South Africa might not be favourites, but they have their best squad since the 1990s and early 2000s and with their success and rebirth, a realisation of their potential and ability to win things has awakened tremendous hunger.

That’s a dangerous commodity for a team to have. It will take a superhuman effort for Ronwen Williams to be the captain lifting the trophy in Rabat on January 18. Perhaps, just perhaps, it is within the realms of possibility.

Bafana’s Group B opponents:

• v Angola, December 22, Marrakesh Stadium (7pm SA time)
• v Egypt, December 26, Adrar Stadium, Agadir (5pm SA time)
• v Zimbabwe, December 29, Marrakesh Stadium (6pm SA time)