World Cup (Q): South Africa’s Broos wary of ‘very good Nigeria’

South Africa coach Hugo Broo has admitted it will be a tricky affair coming up against a ‘very good’ Nigeria side in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture at Free State Stadium on Tuesday.

Bafana Bafana beat Lesotho 3-0 at the Free State Stadium to maintain their lead at the top of their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group on Friday night, while the Super Eagles defeated Rwanda 1-0 at home to stay on course.

“You know that Nigeria is a very good team and a much better team than the team of Lesotho. So, we will have to take other majors and other tactical things than we did in the game of today [Friday]. We will see in the next few days and we will try to find the right team to beat Nigeria Tuesday,” said Broos as quoted by SABC Sports.

He added: “About Nigeria I will not talk, this is something that we’ll see with the technical staff which team we will select for Tuesday. On the other hand, we didn’t do so well in the first half. We used the space behind the defence of Lesotho and that we did much better.”

The victory against Lesotho was dampened by injuries to Nyiko Mobbie, who was substituted barely five minutes into the game, and Thabo Moloisane, who exited the match in the 52nd minute.

Speaking on the injury setback, he said: “For us it is a pity that we have these injuries again. Moloisane is not so bad, but Mobbie is out, and we will have to call someone else. We will decide in the next hour who that will be. It is the only negative point from this game, but it can happen in any game.”

Bafana are leading the log with 16 points, followed by Benin on 11, while Nigeria are third with 10 points.

⚽ Follow Pan-Africa Football across platforms for real-time news and stories.