Bafana Bafana's Lyle Brent Foster and Calvin Chinedu Bassey of Nigeria during their 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier on 9 September 2025 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (Photo: Charlé Lombard / Gallo Images) 
Like a proud parent, Hugo Broos has regularly praised Bafana Bafana for their multifaceted evolution under his tenure. One of the team traits rediscovered under the Belgian is a fortified fighting spirit.
It was absent for a number of years before the 73-year-old landed in South Africa nearly five years ago.
But Bafana Bafana’s mentality and self-belief have been restored under Broos. The public’s opinion of the team has also shifted from apathy to a quiet confidence. This is evidenced by South Africans returning to stadiums in their thousands to back the team in recent matches.
A direct consequence is that the South Africans now back themselves for success against most opponents, or at least to make it a proper contest even if they do lose.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TL_2465184.jpg "Bafana coach Hugo Broos. (Photo: Lubabalo Lesolle / Gallo Images)")
Under Broos, Bafana Bafana may not always play the brand of entertaining soccer that a number of South Africans identify with and adore. Nonetheless, the team has generally relearnt how to grind out the required results, no matter the circumstances they encounter.
This is the mentality that the team will have to bring to the forefront if they are to succeed in their quest to reach the 2026 soccer World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Two tricky matches against Zimbabwe and Rwanda await Bafana Bafana. The clashes will be played on 10 and 14 October respectively.
Confident coach Broos
The team being docked three points for illegally fielding midfielder Teboho Mokoena in a World Cup qualifier in March has made this task a bit more difficult. Bafana Bafana have been relegated to second place in Group C and are level on 14 points with first-placed Benin. But they trail on goal difference.
Nevertheless, Broos is confident that despite the setback, his players will complete the mission that began in May 2021. That is when the Belgian tactician was appointed, with the mandate of qualifying South Africa for its first World Cup since 2010.
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos announces his squad for the final 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe (Moses Mabhida Stadium) and Rwanda (Mbombela) this month.#BafanaPride@SABC_Sport pic.twitter.com/0XwK44e8xD
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) October 2, 2025
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, 2 October, after the announcement of his squad for the two key clashes, Broos said “Mokoena-gate” was the fuel the team would use to push forward, despite some doubt creeping in from the general public.
We will show them
“It’s amazing to me that people are starting to doubt that we can qualify. For them it’s a given that Benin will win two times. [Even though] they play in Nigeria and they play in Rwanda. If they win two times, congratulations to them. But I don’t think it will happen,” Broos said.
“If we win two times, there is a big chance we will qualify. The only thing we have to do now is focus on the games, and not on all the other rubbish. It’s not important any more, we have been punished and we know the situation. We have to go for it,” the Belgian stated.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/B24BJSS1511.jpg "Bafana's Ronwen Williams saves a penalty kick during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations third-place match between South Africa and DR Congo at State Félix Houphouët Boigny in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on 10 February 2024. (Photo: Samuel Shivambu / BackpagePix)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TL_2452641.jpg "Mbekezeli Mfanufikile Mbokazi of South Africa during the World Cup qualifier match between South Africa and Nigeria at Toyota Stadium. (Photo: Charlé Lombard / Gallo Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TL_2452821.jpg "Lyle Brent Foster of South Africa at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein. (Photo: Daniel Hlongwane / Gallo Images)")
“I’m not afraid [that this punishment] will affect the mentality in the team. I know those guys and I know what they want. They all want to go to America. So, they will do everything in the next two games to win those games.
“It didn’t affect me either, except those first two hours after I received the message. But now it has become a motivation for me. I will try to put it to the players that we have extra motivation to show all those people who are waiting for us not to go to America.”
Home ground advantage
A slight advantage for Broos’ men is that both games will be played in South Africa, even though one is technically an away match.
They are away to Zimbabwe, but the Warriors play all their home qualifiers in South Africa due to stadiums in Zimbabwe not being up to Fifa’s quality standards. So, the match will be played at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Then the South Africans host Rwanda in Mbombela. The Rwandans are the only team to beat them during this qualification campaign.
However, the tie will not just be about avenging the 2-0 stinging that Broos and his men suffered to the Wasps. It’s a must win, a final.
There is no doubt that Mokoena-gate should not have happened. It was an embarrassing moment for a proud soccer nation.
But the silver lining is that it happened to the best version of Bafana Bafana we have seen in a number of years. DM