Broos desperate for Bafana to avoid calamity and see off Lesotho

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says it will be a ‘little disaster’ if his side cannot secure all three points on Friday evening against Lesotho in a 2026 Fifa World Cup Group C qualifier at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. 

ALSO READ: Three things to look out for when Bafana face Lesotho

South Africa head into the game as clear favourites to beat Dikwena and consolidate their position as front-runners in Group C. With only the winners of the group guaranteed to the USA, Canada and Mexico, dropping points in a game like this is not really an option. 

Bafana’s Broos – ‘I think we can win’

“With the right game plan and mentality, I think we can win,” Broos told the pre-match press conference on Thursday. 

“It will be a little disaster if we don’t win the game tomorrow. We have to keep ourselves in the same position (in the group). With three points we can then go to Benin and look for another three.”

Bafana will play Benin in another qualifier on Tuesday, with the match being played in the Ivory Coast, because Benin do not have a stadium that meets CAF regulations. 

“As I said before, with six teams in the group and ten games, the third match day (set of two fixtures) can be a key day, if we can achieve six points out of six. We will try to do it. We are aware of the difficulties we can have tomorrow but we believe in ourselves and we can win.” 

Lesotho may not exactly be powerhouses in the continental game but they have picked up some useful results in this World Cup qualifying campaign. DIkwena have yet to lose a Group C away game, drawing in Nigeria and beating Zimbabwe 2-0. 

“In Africa you are never sure about victory before the game,” added Broos. 

“We saw it yesterday when Cameroon played Eswatini (Wednesday’s Group D World Cup qualifier finished goalless at Mbombela Stadium.”

“Tomorrow it is important we don’t underestimate our opponent.

‘Fantastic mentality’

“Maybe they (Lesotho) do not have our technical qualities but they have a fantastic mentality. It is up to us to have the same mentality from the beginning of the game. Even when it is not going as expected we have to stick to our game plan. 

ALSO READ: Appollis says Bafana will be up for the fight

“If you start doubting it could be a bit like Cameroon in the last 20 minutes, they were just kicking the ball in front, and then you don’t achieve  what you want.”