ADVERTISEMENTS

Hugo Broos reveals how much of his 2026 World Cup has already been selected

South Africa will host Panama for a second friendly in four days on Tuesday at a sold out Cape Town Stadium, and Broos says he is still mulling over several positions.

“Everything depends a little bit on the shape of the players,” he said. “Maybe in the next weeks, they will not play anymore in their teams, or pick up injuries, or that kind of thing. 

“But for 70-75% of the selection is already in my head and will not change. Not even if tomorrow we play a bad game. But there are still some positions that I want to decide on in the next weeks before I make my choice.”

Bafana were held 1-1 by Panama in their first game on tour in Durban on Friday night, a fixture the hosts dominated but could not finish their numerous chances.

“We did a very good game on Friday. We want to confirm that tomorrow again against a very good opponent, so I think we did the right choice to play against Panama two times,” Broos said.

“It was a good test already Friday, and again, tomorrow, I expect a tough opponent, a good opponent also. So, it's all right for the preparation, because that is the main goal of those two games (against Panama) … preparation of the first game in the World Cup, in Mexico, against Mexico, now in two months’ time.”

Broos said all 23 players in the squad were fit for Tuesday’s game and he would be making some changes to the line-up from Friday in Durban. 

“As I said already in the past, our Afcon in December was not that good for various reasons. So I wanted to install a little bit more mentality and discipline in the team. And I think we succeeded on Friday. I was happy with the performance. 

“I was also happy with the mentality. I was happy with discipline. I was happy with everything, except a few things in the game. We had a debriefing this (Monday) morning, and players know there were a few details that we have to try to do better. 

“On the other hand, I was also very happy with the crowd on Friday because that was for me also a little question mark because the reaction of the fans after Afcon was not so positive … and it was normal that they were not positive.

“But, yeah, the South African people were again there in the stadium and it will be a full house tomorrow (Tuesday).”

Anda mungkin juga tertarik