After spending almost a week in Ggeberha, Bafana Bafana are ready to face Congo Brazzaville in a highly anticipated 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday.
The South African senior men’s national team host the Congolese on Friday, 11 October (7pm), and then they travel to Congo to play the return match on Tuesday, 15 October. The visitors finally arrived in the Eastern Cape on Thursday afternoon and had their first training session at the match venue in the evening.
Bafana ready to face Congo Brazzaville #BafanaPride#AfconQualifier @10bet_ZA@CastleLagerSA@flysaahttps://t.co/GMsgGpLsJK
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) October 10, 2024
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos said his team has prepared well in the last few days and they are ready for the challenge posed by the visitors.
“I’m more comfortable now than I was in the beginning of our camp,” the Belgian mentor said.
We are just 3 DAYS away from the big day @BafanaBafana Vs Congo: Afcon Qualifier 😃
— NMB Stadium (@NMB_Stadium) October 8, 2024
Be sure to lock down your ticket as fast as your debit orders 👀 - no more time to play my friends it’s getting serious now 😏
Friday night we are turning up as we gaze upon mouth watering… pic.twitter.com/2ivMWZX7v1
“Again, I saw a very hungry team this week. We trained very well this week; we prepared ourselves very well and this is something I like about this group. I think everybody was aware of the fact that our games against Uganda and South Sudan were not our best games, and that we were lucky to achieve those 4-on-6.
“And then you see the immediate reaction of the group, and it means we did a lot of progress also on that level, the mental level. After the performances of September, we will again motivate each other and be ready to have good results, two good results against Congo tomorrow and next week on Tuesday.”
Captain Ronwen Williams said the spirit in camp has been exceptional and he is impressed by the way the new players have adapted.
“There’s been a change in mentality, and you could see it this week in training. Once the team was together, the team spirit was there again,” he said.
“The brotherhood, the joy, the happiness, you know, it’s been there, and the new players have settled in well and have been looking good. We’re just looking forward to the game tomorrow and we would like to urge the whole of Eastern Cape, Gqeberha, to come out and support us and show the love to the boys tomorrow night.”