Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos was a happy man after his players delivered an impressive display during a six-goal thriller against hosts Algeria at a packed Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers on Tuesday night.
The South African senior men’s team drew 3-3 with Algeria in an action-packed Fifa Series match that had the fans on the edge of their seats for the majority of the 90 minutes.
The Algerians were the first to get their name up on the stadium scoreboard when Yassine Benzia opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. The visitors stormed back and equalised through Themba Zwane in the 34th minute following a cross from Mihlali Mayambela.
Bafana Bafana then took the lead in the 47th minute when Zwane beat goalkeeper Moustafa Zeghba with a beautiful strike just before the break.
Algeria clawed their way back when Brahimi equalised to make it 2-2 in the 53rd minute. Bafana Bafana regained the lead when Iqraam Rayners made it 3-2 in the 65th minute, but Benzia equalised in the 70th minute to make it 3-3. “What a game! It was a fantastic game from both teams, but the performance of South Africa was really, really good. We played against a very strong team, but I do not think there was much difference between the quality of our game and the quality of the game of Algeria. That means we have progressed in the last few months,” Broos said.
It was a performance that satisfied Broos as he wanted to use the South African senior men’s team’s participation in the Fifa Series in Algeria as an opportunity to widen his pool of players ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers in June.