World Cup: “Nothing special about Nigeria” — Hugo Broos

South Africa coach, Hugo Broos gets on the banter ahead of their World Cup qualifier clash versus Nigeria that could place either side at an advantage of seeing a spot in the 2026 World Cup.

From Broos’ comments, it stands to reason that the South African head coach is not at all happy with the Bafana Bafana’s elimination from the AFCON at the hands of none other than the Super Eagles.

The Super Eagles in a nerve wracking semi-final were lucky to get past the South Africans who mounted a late surge that could only be thwarted by the heroics of Eagles’ goalie, Stanley Nwabali.

Ahead of the World Cup qualifiers, Hugo Broos is not looking past the AFCON 2024 semi-final as he brings the topic into narrative. “Nigeria were lucky”, the head coach puts it, as he considers the Bafana Bafana the better team all round in the match.

“Everyone of us wants to go and qualify for the World Cup in 2026. We are in front of two very tough games,” Hugo Broos stated.

“First of all, Nigeria, finalists in the AFCON, have players who are playing in the best competitions in Europe. On the other side, we also saw what we can do against them in the AFCON.”

Hugo Broos highlighted the resilience and capabilities of his squad, drawing on their strong performance against Nigeria in the AFCON.

“If we had a little bit of luck on our side, we would have been in the final and not Nigeria. We were the best team in the semi-finals, we could have won that, so we don’t have to be afraid,” he added.