South Africa’s Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos, has urged his players to seize the opportunity to extend their advantage in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers by overcoming Lesotho before Nigeria take to the field. The Belgian manager stressed the importance of winning today’s match in Bloemfontein as Nigeria prepare to face Rwanda a day later.
Broos emphasised, “We will try to beat Lesotho, it’s important that we can do that tomorrow, we put pressure on the other opponents. Nigeria is playing on Saturday so that means we have to take this opportunity with both hands.”
With South Africa currently topping Group C by six points over Nigeria, a victory against Lesotho will amplify the pressure on the Super Eagles, who look to bounce back after dropping valuable points earlier in the qualifiers.
Although officially the ‘away’ side, Broos highlighted the impact of local support given that Lesotho’s home games are staged in South Africa. “We are not hosts, it’s Lesotho who play at home in South Africa, but certainly the game against Nigeria, I said it before, there’s a crowd behind you as a team you can always do more. You always have weak moments in a game, and then you need that crowd, and let’s hope they are there tomorrow to support us, but also certainly next Tuesday because we will need it.”
