World Cup Qualifying: “It’s up to us to finish it” – South Africa coach Broos

South Africa national team coach Hugo Broos has shifted focus to their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture against Nigeria at Free State Stadium on Tuesday.

Bafana Bafana increased their chances to qualify for the global tournament following their 3-0 victory against Lesotho at the same venue on Friday. Meanwhile, Nigeria secured a 1-0 win against Rwanda at Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Saturday to stay on course.

“Now we will see next week when we play against Nigeria, if God is with us, we can maybe qualify already next Tuesday for the World Cup – and that stays the goal for us,” said Broos as quoted by SABC Sports. “We are in a good situation, we have everything in our own hands, so it’s up to us now to finish it.”

Revisiting the game against Lesotho, Broos said: “Everything that happened in the past day made it a nervous game, it was not an easy game, we saw a very motivated Lesotho, but we did it very well.

“We had some chances, we scored, we dominated and the only thing we had to do today was to stay organised and not make stupid mistakes – and that’s something we didn’t do.”

He added: “Lesotho were kicking the ball forward for 90 minutes and hoped for a mistake from our side, but we didn’t do it, and we won the game, which I think we deserved. That shows again that you only win games on the pitch, and not off the pitch.”

South Africa are currently leading Group C with 16 points, Benin are second with 11 points while Nigeria moved to third with 10 points.

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