Bafana Bafana have no room for doubt in run-up to World Cup qualifier 'final' against Rwanda

Trials and tribulations can make or break sports teams. Coming out unscathed from such situations can create indomitable sides. Think of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. The team struggled for years before the planted seeds started bearing fruit.

It’s been almost five years since Hugo Broos was appointed Bafana Bafana coach. His team’s crunch Fifa 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Rwanda on Tuesday (14 October) at 6pm, in Mbombela, will be an important chapter in the Belgian coach’s story with South Africa.

Winning an Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) bronze medal and qualifying to play at a World Cup for the first time since 2010 holds a bit more weight than just finishing third at Afcon. Hence this group of players, as well as Broos and his technical team, have worked tirelessly on the field to ensure this milestone is reached.

Not in control

Setbacks along the way mean the South Africans’ qualification hopes are no longer firmly in their hands. Bafana Bafana dropped four precious points in their past two World Cup qualifying matches. In September they drew 1-1 with Nigeria and then on 10 October were held to a goalless draw by neighbours Zimbabwe in Durban.   

The two draws were blows in a tight and tense Group C, which is currently led by Benin on 17 points. The Beninese are two points ahead of second-placed South Africa and three in front of Nigeria in third. All three teams can still mathematically qualify for next year’s soccer showpiece in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Only the top teams in each of the nine African groups are guaranteed a place at next year’s World Cup. Then the four best runners-up have a second but more complicated chance to qualify. But first, they must be the last team standing in a four-way African playoff.

This will earn them a place in an intercontinental playoff with five other countries. The two teams still standing after this final playoff round will seal their places at the World Cup. It’s an extremely complicated passage and one which Bafana Bafana is out to avoid. That’s if they even qualify for it in the worst-case scenario.  

“We didn’t expect to lose points against Zimbabwe. But we also knew it would be difficult against a highly motivated Zimbabwe. Things happened and we can’t change it anymore,” said Broos about the Zimbabwe draw.

Costly blunder

In addition to those draws with Nigeria and Zimbabwe over the past month, an administrative error by South Africa has severely dented their qualification odds.

The South Africans were cruising comfortably in Group C. Then Fifa retrospectively punished them after they fielded midfielder Teboho Mokoena when he was supposed to be suspended for accumulated yellow cards. Broos’s charges had won the game 2-0, but that result was erased for a 3-0 Lesotho win.

Now Bafana Bafana find themselves in a do-or-die situation. They must win against Rwanda in Mpumalanga on Tuesday, while hoping Nigeria beats Benin. In the case of a Benin draw, Bafana must win by at least three goals to qualify. 

Broos says it’s important for his players to focus on themselves and not what might happen in the other match.        

“It’s a game where we only have to focus on ourselves. We can’t change or decide what happens in Nigeria. We must just win, then wait and see. But the things we’ve all wanted and dreamed of can still happen,” he said.

“We are ready to play a good game. Because whatever criticism there is for the game against Zimbabwe, it was not a bad game from us. We just needed a bit of luck.

“That’s why I told the players that even if it was not a good result for us, now is not the moment for us to start doubting ourselves. [Nor doubting] the strength and quality of the team. We don’t have to do what some people are doing.

“We are ready to win the game. But we also know that that might not be enough. So, let’s hope on the other side, the gods are with us. So that we see the result that everyone hopes for in Nigeria – which is Benin losing the game.”

Belief over doubt

Broos’s sentiments were echoed by his players, goalkeeper/captain Ronwen Williams and defender Thapelo Morena.

“What happened on Friday [against Zimbabwe] happened. Now we are fully focused on the Rwanda game, because it’s an important game for us. We have to deliver and grind out a result,” Morena said. 

“We know the situation. We would have loved to be in a different situation. But it is what it is now. The boys know what’s at stake and they are ready. They have the belief,” Williams added.

“We just have to go out and show the team that we are; the team that we’ve been over the last few years. There’s no reason to doubt the progress that we’ve made. We know what needs to be done,” the skipper said.

The match kicks off at 6pm and Bafana Bafana will be banking on home-ground advantage to obtain the required result. DM