Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has reacted to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) draw, insisting that he is happy as ‘it could have been worse.
The draw that was staged in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Thursday evening pitted Bafana with neighbours Namibia, Mali and Tunisia in Group E.
The 34th edition of the tournament will start in January next year in Côte d’Ivoire. The results of the draw have given Broos confidence that Bafana can reach the knockout stages and potentially go all the way to the final.
Bafana were eliminated by Nigeria in the quarterfinals of the 2019 AFCON, with Broos having won the 2017 edition with Cameroon.
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“Honestly, I’m not really unhappy when you see the teams that are in our group,” said Broos. “Mali, for sure, we have a big team. On the other side, Tunisia also.
“I preferred to have Tunisia than Senegal or Cote d’Ivoire, but that’s also good. We have Namibia that we know. I think we can achieve our best level and go to the group stages. “Our preparations at the moment are disturbed by injuries, but we are three months away from the tournament, and I am certainly not panicking,” added the coach.
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Bafana were in Pot Three for the draw, and Broos said he expected to be drawn against two difficult teams. As Bafana were in Pot Three for the AFCON draw, Broos stated that he knew that they would be drawn against two top nations.
“When you’re in put in Pot Three, you don’t have to hope too much because you have two big teams in the group. Tunisia is a big team, but less than Morocco, Senegal or the hosts,” he said. “Mali is not really a big team, but again it will be tough as they are a good team. So I’m rather happy with the draw; it could have been worse.”