By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has singled out Morocco as the team to beat in Group K after the draw for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations was confirmed last night.
South Africa are in Group K alongside Morocco, Liberia and Zimbabwe, a side still waiting for FIFA to lift a temporary ban from all football.
“It’s clear that Morocco is the best team in our group. They were in the Afcon in January and were eliminated by Egypt and they are a very good team,” said Broos.
The 24th ranked Morocco will play at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar this year and also boast several players who play in Europe’s top five leagues such as Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss, Munir El Haddadi and Youssef En-Nesyri.
The presence of Morocco also means that South Africa need to try and win their games against Liberia and Zimbabwe instead of settling for draws. Broos will be hoping that the experience that Bafana would have got from their recent friendly internationals against Guinea and France in Europe can help them in their preparations.
Bafana will be familiar with Zimbabwe, having played their Southern African neighbours in the most recent edition of World Cup qualifying. Liberia is a fairly unknown unit to Broos. South Africa have not played against the Liberians since a 1-1 Afcon 2002 qualification draw back in June 2001.
“We played against Zimbabwe during the World Cup qualifiers. We know them very well. We played two times against them last year so they are a tough team. This is a team that we have to beat if we are to qualify. We are better than we were a few months ago. I think that if we can beat them it will be a good outcome for us. Liberia is a team I don’t know at the moment. Over the coming weeks we will look at their games,” said Broos.
On paper, 149th ranked Liberia are the weakest team in the group but Broos cannot afford to underestimate them. Liberia did finish as group winners ahead of SA in Group 2 during the 2002 Afcon qualification.
Meanwhile South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan has assured Broos that there was no risk to his job if South Africa failed to make it to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
Jordaan was reacting to the 2023 Afcon qualification draw that took place in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.
South Africa missed out on the final stage of the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup qualifiers after losing to Ghana in Cape Coast, a result SAFA didn’t take kindly to its officiating.
“No [there’s no jeopardy],” said Jordaan, who has overseen myriad coaching changes in his time as SAFA boss.
“You can’t want to qualify and also say, ‘What if?’
“No, there are no what-ifs. We wish the team and the coach (Broos) all the best, and we are going to give him all the support.
“The ball is in his court.”
Jordaan also added that the federation would give the Belgian and his assistant coach Helman Mkhalele the support they needed to get to the Ivory Coast.
“I’m sure the coach and Helman have their plans in place and we’ll see,” Jordaan said.
“The first two matches are coming up at the end of May and the middle of June and then it’s all to play for.
“We can only support them. Whatever the coach and players require, we’ll be there to support them. The players and the coach must come with the plans and make sure that we get the results.
“Look, if you go back to the World Cup (2022) qualifiers, the team played very well.
“We were actually top of our group and then the disaster happened in Cape Coast, so now they must regroup and go again.”