Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is happy that his team is right back on track and looking forward to the decisive FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier against Rwanda at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Tuesday night.
Kick-off is at 18:00.
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This is the South African senior men’s national team’s final match of these World Cup qualifiers and the hosts, who remain second on the standings and two points behind leaders Benin, welcome a Rwanda side that is already out of the qualifying equation.
Broos’s charges need to beat the Rwandese and then hope that Nigeria beat Benin at home.
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The Bafana Bafana coach said he needed his charges to shake off the disappointment of drawing 0-0 with Zimbabwe in the previous World Cup qualifier played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium last Friday night.
‘Spark is back’
He said the spark is back in the team and the players are now fully prepared for the showdown against Rwanda.
“We are back mentally and that is very important. The (team’s) qualities didn’t disappear with the draw against Zimbabwe.
“It was mentally that we had to recover and turn the button. You can be sure that the button has been turned, and mentality, the team spirit and the belief is there again,” he said.
“This is another amazing thing about this team and after the uppercut we got on Friday, everyone can turn the button and focus on the next job in the shortest period of time.
“Therefore, I believe again and I’m confident that tomorrow we will fight for it again, and we will try to win the game, and we will have a big chance to win.”
‘Mean business’
Captain Ronwen Williams echoed Broos and said the players mean business.
“Obviously we were a bit down, we were devastated but as the coach told us, we had 24 hours to clean that feeling out of our system. If you could have seen our training yesterday you would have seen that the boys mean business,” he said.
“I mean, the coach emphasised this, why do we need to start doubting ourselves now? Yes, it was a setback, but we shouldn’t forget what we’ve done over the last few years.
“We have come in leaps and bounds, and you know we’ve done extremely well. So, we don’t have to change much, we don’t have to have any doubts, and we still believe in the team that we’ve got.
“We still believe that there’s all to play for and we believe that we can make history. You can feel and you can sense that inside the team and the players, the mindset is good.
“But like I said, of course we would have loved things to be different, but they are not. So, the boys know that we have to dig deep, we have to go again and just leave our all on the field.”
Opportunity
Rwanda coach Adel Amrouche said he would give an opportunity to several players who did not feature much in their previous matches.
“We want to give other players time to play because this is a good game for them to play against a very good team,” he said.
Bafana Bafana last qualified for a World Cup in 2002 in Japan and South Korea and last played at a World Cup in 2010 when South Africa hosted that year’s tournament.
FIFA World Cup 2026 will held in the United States, Canada and Mexico between 11 June and 19 July and will comprise 48 countries in the biggest tournament to date.
Matches are scheduled to take place in 16 host cities.
Will Bafana Bafana fans be celebrating qualifying for FIFA World Cup 2026 come the final whistle in Mbombela on Tuesday evening?
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