South Africa head coach Hugo Broos believes his side do not need any extra motivation and are confident of victory ahead of their World Cup opener against Morocco.
Bafana Bafana face the 2026 World Cup co-host in a repeat of the 2010 opener later today, hoping to record a win as they look to progress from the group stages for the first time in their history.
South Africa have never gone past the first round at the mundial and the last time they qualified was in 2010 on their home soil, until the arrival of Broos, who masterminded their qualification campaign as they pipped Nigeria to the automatic qualification spot.
Read Also: What Mexico coach said ahead of World Cup opener against South Africa
Now, they set out for history in group A, where they will also face South Korea and Czech Republic for a spot in the knockout round.
What Hugo Broos said ahead of Mexico clash
South Africa will be hoping to begin their campaign at the 2026 World Cup with a victory when they face co-host Mexico on Thursday.
Ahead of the match, Hugo Broos played down the iconic 2010 moments and believes his side do not need any extra motivation to get the result.
“I don’t think the team need that inspiration,” Broos revealed.
“It was a great moment for South Africa, so long ago, but now it’s 2026.
“We’re playing tomorrow against Mexico, and the guys are excited enough, so we don’t need to talk of that Tshabalala goal.
“It’s a nice memory, and I have also my own nice memories of 40 years ago [as a player for Belgium at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico], they are very nice. You know the history of Bafana”, the former Cameroon boss added.
“In the last five years, we were playing in empty stadiums, but now the stadiums are full, more and more [people come to watch], month on month.
“The enthusiasm of people has increased, so people are now expecting us to win the World Cup already.
“This is a little bit unrealistic, but we feel the warmth, we feel the support, even though there are thousands of kilometres between the two countries, we feel the warmth of South Africans.
“They can be sure that tomorrow they’ll see a team they can be proud of”, Broos concluded.
Kickoff for South Africa’s opening match against Mexico is 8 PM Nigerian time, as Bafana Bafana look to produce a shock result over the tournament host.
