Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos had opened up on suggestions Mamelodi Sundowns players were the reason they broke a 19-year hoodoo in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Benin.
Bafana had six players from the Brazilians, who were recently crowned the African Football League champions, in the line-up against Benin, where they opened their group campaign with a 2-1 victory, with Khuliso Mudau netting the second goal to give them a two-goal cushion.
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South Africa had not won an opening World Cup qualifier match in 19 years and ended their hoodoo against the Cheetahs.
"It's not only that, I will not tell you it's only because of those (Sundowns) players that we won, we played with 11 and even 15 because there were some changes," Broos told reporters.
"Second-half after the changes there were less players of Sundowns and we won the game. So don't make a story of that. For me if it's Sundowns player(s) or Pirates player(s) or Chippa player or whatever, for me what's important is that I have a team and a team to win, so it's not because of them or because of others," he added.
Bafana's start in Group C had been further aided by rivals in the section Nigeria and Zimbabwe getting only two points apiece from their first two matches.
The Warriors initially played to a goalless draw against Rwanda in their opener and the Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw by Lesotho.
Zimbabwe and Nigeria met each other on Sunday, where they played to a 1-1 draw.
Bafana then lost 2-0 to Rwanda away on Tuesday afternoon, with the latter nation then moving ahead of them into first position.
The winner of the group qualifies automatically for the 2026 World Cup.
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