Final World Cup qualifying matches are Bafana’s toughest assignments under Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana’s two final Fifa World Cup qualifiers, against Zimbabwe and Rwanda, are the biggest matches of Hugo Broos’s four-year tenure as the team’s coach. Not even the team’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) semifinal against Nigeria was as high stakes.

The difference between the two occasions? The pressure of expectation. 

At Afcon, only a handful of people genuinely believed that Bafana Bafana could reach that stage of the tournament, never mind the final. It was the team’s first major tournament under Broos since his appointment in May 2021.

During this 2026 soccer World Cup qualification campaign, there has been genuine public belief in the team’s capabilities.

Self-created pressure

Nonetheless, some doubt has crept in since the South African Football Association (Safa) and Bafana Bafana were sanctioned by Fifa in September 2025.

South Africa was docked three points by the global soccer governing body after erroneously fielding suspended midfielder Teboho Mokoena during a qualifying match against Lesotho in March. 

The punishment relegated Broos’s team to second in Group C, level on 14 points with Benin, but trailing on goal difference.

Bafana Bafana’s final qualification push was always set to be tense. Their 1-1 draw against Nigeria in the last qualification matches played reduced their advantage in the group to just three points. Then came the Fifa sanction for “Mokoena-gate” to pile pressure on the team.

Nevertheless, morale within the team is sky high. Coach Broos is at the forefront of this positive attitude before the crunch ties against Zimbabwe (10 October) and Rwanda four days later.

Broos knows that his team are not in the most ideal situation following the Fifa punishment. But the Belgian believes that all the work he and his technical team have put in over the past four years will see his charges cross the finish line.

Belief over doubt

This belief is strengthened by the fact that Benin faces its own tough battles with clashes against Nigeria and Rwanda. Broos believes they will not win both those matches.

“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.

“I believe in this group, and I am sure that they will do everything in their power to win... Why should we doubt ourselves now after our performances in the qualifiers? If there is a team that deserves to go to the World Cup, it is South Africa.”

It’s been a solid World Cup qualification campaign for the South Africans as they bid to qualify for the global soccer spectacle for the first time since 2002. Of eight matches played to date, they have four victories, two draws and two defeats.

The second defeat is a result of the Fifa sanction. Bafana Bafana had their 2-0 win over Lesotho expunged and it was replaced by a 3-0 technical defeat.

Bafana Bafana participated in the 2010 World Cup as hosts, but it was 23 years ago that they made an appearance via their own sweat and blood. There is an appetite to end this drought and add another milestone for the team under Broos.

Trusted soldiers return

In this regard, Broos can depend on two soldiers he has trusted since taking over the reins from Molefi Ntseki — defender Khuliso Mudau and midfielder Sphephelo Sithole.

In recent matches Broos could not call up Mamelodi Sundowns right-back Mudau due to the player’s stand-off with his club, which kept him out of the team in the beginning of the 2025/26 season. This conflict has since been resolved and Mudau is back galloping up and down the right flank.     

Sithole has recovered from a potentially career-ending leg injury he suffered while on national duty in September 2024. He only returned to training in March 2025, and has not featured for Bafana Bafana since that incident.

Having been recalled by Broos, the Portugal-based midfielder is hungry to help his country cement its ticket to the World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada next year.   

“We have to win it if we want to go to the World Cup. Everyone is prepared and knows — we have to win no matter what,” Sithole said.

“We also want to make the country proud. Because we haven’t qualified for a World Cup in the last 23 years. So, it is a big chance for us to make the country proud.”

Home 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 on the pitch during this qualification campaign.

In the four years Broos has been in charge, Bafana Bafana have regained some of the respect lost during years of failure and mediocrity.

Failure to qualify for the World Cup would take some sheen off the team’s aura. It would also be a major confidence setback before the 2025 Afcon in Morocco. The South Africans have major ambitions for it after winning a bronze medal at the 2023 edition.

First though, is this mammoth assignment. The math is simple for the South Africans: win both matches convincingly and hope that Benin draws or loses at least one of its matches. DM

Bafana Bafana World Cup qualifiers

Zimbabwe vs South Africa – Friday, 10 October (6pm)

South Africa vs Rwanda – Monday, 14 October (6pm)