Williams, Broos confident Bafana have the right attitude to beat Zimbabwe

Hugo Broos and his skipper Ronwen Williams have no worries about the mentality in the Bafana Bafana team that’s on the verge of playing two crucial World Cup qualifiers that could define South African football in over two decades.

Bafana must beat Zimbabwe at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday (6pm) and Rwanda at Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Tuesday to have a good chance to qualify for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

The last time Bafana qualified for the global showpiece on their own sweat was for the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan but the last time they appeared was as hosts in 2010.

Broos’s charges could have come to these last two qualifiers with less pressure if the SA Football Association didn’t drop the ball by fielding an ineligible Teboho Mokoena in a qualifier against Lesotho in Limpopo in March.

Bafana won that match 2-0 but Fifa have since docked those three points and gave Lesotho a 3-0 victory, which meant Bafana dropped to second spot on goal difference to Benin.

But Bafana still have a good chance to make the 48 teams that will play in a World Cup that will be hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada in 2026 because Benin have two tough away matches against Rwanda (Friday) and Nigeria (Tuesday).

On other hand, Bafana can fall into complacency as they face Zimbabwe that is out of the running for the 2026 World Cup as they’re sitting on the bottom of Group C with four points out of eight games after losing four and drawing four.

The only things the Warriors will be playing for in Friday’s match is pride, bragging rights and intensifying their mission to prepare for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco later this year where they’ll also meet Bafana, Egypt and Angola.

“I think you’ve seen over the past two years that people have high expectations for the team now. But we just do what we can, control what we can,” said Williams when quizzed at the match venue on Thursday about the mentality of Bafana players ahead of Friday’s clash.

“The most important thing is to show up in the 90 minutes and get the job done. We have to play as hard as we can. We’ve come a long way and grown as a team and we know what it takes to be at the top.

“We want to stay on that road of success and the most important thing has been the team spirit.

Broos added the fact that Zimbabwe can no longer qualify does not mean they’ll roll out the carpet and make it easy for Bafana to collect points that could be key to their qualification.

“We’ve done a good job in the past three years by having good results. Your status becomes bigger and it means that people are expecting more.

“The expectations are bigger and it’s normal. I don’t have a problem with that and the players are aware of that.

“I’m not afraid that there will be a difference between the game tomorrow and the one at Afcon. We’ll try to do the same thing every game regardless of who we’re playing.

“The mentality and the team spirit is always the same. We want to win the game and it’s only because tomorrow it’s important to win but we want to win in every game. That’s the fantastic mentality that we have in the team.

“There’s more than playing good football. In modern international football it’s not only about that. You need power, mentality, character and perseverance.

“Those things are important and I think they’re installed in the team. I know that it will be a very tough and difficult game but I know that we can beat Zimbabwe not only because we’re a good team but more because we have the right mentality for such games,” concluded Broos.

Bafana plays Zimbabwe on the back of a 22-match unbeaten run which is equal to that of Spain and just behind Senegal who now hold the longest unbeaten run of 24 matches.