Ronwen Williams (right) Bafana Bafana captain and head coach Hugo Broos (left). Picture: Ayanda Ndamane, Independent Newspapers
Rowan Callaghan
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is confident of advancing from Group B of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 despite the presence of a resurgent Egypt in their pool.
The other two teams in the group at the tournament in Morocco are Angola and Zimbabwe.
“When I look at our opponents for Afcon, I think that Egypt is the favourite to win the group,” Broos said.
“They didn’t make a very good last Afcon and they didn’t perform like everybody expected. They were very soon out of the tournament.
“But I think in the last year, year-and-a-half, they have built again a very good team. They did very well in the qualifiers, so that will be the team to beat for the first place.”
Monday’s draw in Rabat served up another clash between SA and Zimbabwe, and Broos is confident of continuing Bafana’s good form against the neighbours.
“It’s the fourth time that we play against Zimbabwe,” Broos said.
“We played against Zimbabwe for the World Cup in Qatar. We played against Zimbabwe for the qualification of the last Afcon but they were suspended so there was no game between us and we have Zimbabwe in the qualifiers for the next World Cup. And we have again Zimbabwe now in the Afcon.
“Zimbabwe is a neighbour and it’s always a difficult game for us. At the other side, all the games we played already against Zimbabwe, we played one draw and we won three times, so winning against Zimbabwe is very possible in now Afcon.”
If the Warriors are an open book to the Belgian mentor, then Angola are the opposite.
“Angola is, for me, a team I don’t know really very good, so it will be very important to do a good analysis of Angola and to be well-prepared to play that game,” Broos said.
Broos led Bafana to a bronze-medal finish at the last Afcon in Ivory Coast in January last year, and they are among the favourites for the showpiece in Morocco.
They finished top of Group K unbeaten in the qualifiers with 14 points and a goal difference of plus-11.
“In general, I think we can be satisfied (with the draw),” Broos continued. It is not a very easy group.
“(But) I think we have a great opportunity to qualify us for the next round. As you know, in Afcon, after the group stages everything is possible, so we will do everything to do better than the last Afcon.”
Bafana, who are ranked 10th in Africa and 57th in the world, open their campaign against Angola, before facing Zimbabwe.
The mouth-watering clash against Egypt will take place on matchday 3.
The dates and venue for their group stage matches will be announced by CAF in due course.
The finals will run from December 21 this year until January 8 across six cities in Morocco, who are ranked No.1 in Africa.
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