Bafana Bafana’s qualification hopes suffered a major setback after being held to a 0-0 draw by Zimbabwe, despite the Warriors playing with ten men for most of the match.
The 1996 African champions must now overcome Rwanda’s Amavubi, while hoping group leaders Benin Republic slip up against Nigeria, who also remain in the race for the automatic qualification spot in Group C.
Ahead of the clash at the Mbombela Stadium, Broos stated that his players have bounced back from their setback against Zimbabwe and remain fully focused on continuing their push for qualification.
“We are back mentally and that is very important. The (team’s) qualities didn’t disappear with the draw against Zimbabwe,” he told the media per Safa website.
“It was mentally that we had to recover and turn the button. You can be sure that the button has been turned, and mentality, the team spirit and the belief is there again.
“This is another amazing thing about this team and after the uppercut we got on Friday, everyone can turn the button and focus on the next job in the shortest period of time.
“Therefore, I believe again and I’m confident that tomorrow we will fight for it again, and we will try to win the game, and we will have a big chance to win.”
South Africa are aiming to qualify for their first FIFA World Cup in 15 years. Bafana Bafana last featured in the tournament in 2010, when they hosted it on home soil.
There, they were eliminated in the group stage after finishing third in a tough group that included Mexico, Uruguay, and France.
Echoing Broos’ sentiment, goalkeeper Ronwen Williams affirmed that his teammates are fully focused and mean business.
“Obviously we were a bit down, we were devastated but as the coach told us, we had 24 hours to clean that feeling out of our system. If you could have seen our training yesterday you would have seen that the boys mean business,” he said.
“I mean, the coach emphasised this, why do we need to start doubting ourselves now? Yes, it was a setback, but we shouldn’t forget what we’ve done over the last few years.
“We have come in leaps and bounds, and you know we’ve done extremely well. So, we don’t have to change much, we don’t have to have any doubts, and we still believe in the team that we’ve got.”
The reigning best goalkeeper in Africa added: “We still believe that there’s all to play for and we believe that we can make history (on Tuesday).
“You can feel and you can sense that inside the team and the players, the mindset is good. But like I said, of course we would have loved things to be different, but they are not.
“So, the boys know that we have to dig deep, we have to go again and just leave our all on the field (Tuesday) night.”
