Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos wants his team to build on from their Africa Cup of Nations perfomance as they prepare for crucial World Cup qualifiers later this year.
On Thursday evening, Broos’ men will take on European minnows Andorra as part of the FIFA Series international friendlies pilot project.
The seven players from Mamelodi Sundowns, and Siyanda Xulu from SuperSport United, arrived at camp as planned on Tuesday evening
According to FIFA, this pilot series will allow nations to play against teams they would not normally play, and give an opportunity to smaller country to mix it up with bigger teams.
Andorra are ranked 164th in the world, 106 places below Bafana Bafana, who have achieved their highest ranking in over a decade thanks to their impressive performance at the recently completed Africa Cup of Nations, where they finished third.
That Afcon bronze medal also sees them back in the top 10 on the African continent.
Despite the wide gap between the two teams, Broos wants a professional performance from his team as they look to climb further up the rankings.
“It’s important that we go on from what we achieve in the Afcon, it’s not enough to be in third place and become 10th in the CAF rankings for two to three months only and then we are back in number 13,” Broos said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“Therefore we have to go on now and try to get good results and try to get better places in the rankings, and we can only do it with results.
“Friendly games are becoming very important, so we will try to get good results in those two so we can win points and get a better position in the CAF ranking.”
As Broos looks to move forward, he urged the younger players to step up to the plate and impress him, especially with a number of players entering their mid 30s.
“We have some new players, younger players with us. I hope that maybe they can show me that I can count on them for the next months, for the qualifiers for the World Cup and Afcon, and that maybe little by little, we can put those players in the team,” he said, as reported by IOL Sport on Tuesday.
“That’s what we want to do in the next few months, besides to qualify for Afcon and World Cup.”
Bafana’s fixture against Andorra will be played at the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba, and against hosts Algeria at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers next Tuesday.
IOL Sport