Broos eyes commanding start in Group C

After a 2-1 win against Benin in their first 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier, Bafana Bafana will now shift their attention to Rwanda where they will face Amavubi at the Huye Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

Kick-off is at 3:00pm (SA, GMT+2)

South Africa got their World Cup qualifying bid off to a positive start, bagging a 2-1 win over Benin this past Saturday.

In what was effectively one-way traffic for large parts of the encounter, two first-half efforts by Percy Tau and Khuliso Mudau was enough for South Africa to earn maximum points at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

With sides such as Nigeria and Zimbabwe winless in two of their opening qualifiers, South Africa now have the opportunity to end their international break at the top of Group C.

Speaking after the Benin encounter, SA coach Hugo Broos lauded his side’s resilience at seeing out the game after enduring sticky spells toward the end of the match.

“They were also more aggressive too, so we panicked a little bit and conceded a goal. That was certainly not the plan, I told the players at halftime to keep the score at 2-0 and try to for the third one,” Broos said.

“But the game of Benin changed totally in the second half because they were more aggressive.”

“We kept [the score] until the end and that was the most important thing. I said before the game that we are in a tricky group. You saw what happened with Nigeria and others.

“So every game will be a battle that we will be fighting for a good result. We had that today and that is the most important thing.”

As for Rwanda, Amavubi kicked off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe at the Huye Stadium last week.

In facing an experienced Warriors outfit, Rwanda gave a good account of themselves throughout the 90 minutes and often penned Baltemar Brito’s side back in their own half.

Reflecting on the game against Zimbabwe, Rwandan coach Torsten Spittler said that he was happy with the performance despite his side having limited training time together.

“Considering the fact that this is a new set up, I am happy with their output,” Spittler said.

“I am now getting to know some of the players. A host of them came late and they barely trained with us, so for us to play like this is great.”