Bafana Bafana once again earned the plaudits of many around Africa, this time in the inaugural FIFA Series in Algeria where they held their own against the hosts with an exciting 3-3 result at the Stade Nelson Mandela.
With many new faces in the South Africa camp, some of whom were on the fringes of selection for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in January, coach Hugo Broos admits nobody disappointed in the matches against Andorra and Algeria.
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Both those encounters finished honours even, indicating the steady progress that Bafana have made over the years.
“Without saying names, I think there were some players that convinced me and I think they will be there in June. There were some others that didn’t disappoint me, but I think maybe it was for them a little bit too early,” Broos told SAFA media after the match.
Even though certain players didn’t amaze viewers, they had to adapt to a higher level than they are used to and Broos had further explained his appreciation for their efforts.
“This is normal with the younger players, you bring them, certainly on this level you can see it’s maybe a little bit too early but we are going to watch them because they also showed in this camp their qualities.
“But okay, the level is higher and they have to adapt a little bit. But all the players we took were new players and they didn’t disappoint me. So, there’s a big progression in the team,” Broos said.
Given the display against Algeria, the Belgian coach notes they’ve have proven once more that they are able to go up with the best on the continent and don’t fear anyone.
“The performance of South Africa was really, really good today. We played against a very strong team, I don’t think there was much difference between the quality of our game and the quality of the game of Algeria.
“So that means we made a lot of progress in the last months. We showed it already at Afcon, but I think today we did it again. I don’t think we have to be afraid anymore of any team in Africa,” he said.
For now, Bafana won’t be engaged in action until June 3 when they meet Nigeria in their all-important 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier, the same team that knocked out South Africa on penalties in the Afcon semi-finals.
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