AFCON: Broos unhappy with CAF arrangement as Bafana struggle to reach training ground

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is unhappy with the distance between their hotel and the training pitch.

Ahead of the Round of 16 game against Cameroon on Sunday, the 73-year-old Belgian felt the 25minute drive to the facility is not okay since more time is wasted on the road rather than on the pitch.

The tactician feels CAF made a mistake by allowing the teams to use that pitch which, he argues, is disadvantageous.

Bafana Bafana inspect the pitch at the Al Medina Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, ahead of our Africa Cup of Nations Last 16 clash against Cameroon here on Sunday, 4 January 2026.#BafanaPride@10bet_ZA @CastleLagerSA @HonorAfrica @SABC_Sport @Shield_ZA pic.twitter.com/ljD64Ie2lZ

— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) January 3, 2026

It makes me uhappy

“I’m not so happy with the current situation, we are 25 minutes away from our training pitch,” Broos said in his pre-match interview.

“That means that like yesterday we had over two hours to wait, 45 minutes to drive to training, 1 hour 15 minutes training and another 45 minutes drive.

“It doesn’t make me happy, such things. And certainly not, if my information is right, Cameroon and we have to train in the base camp of Morocco, our next opponent.

“I don’t understand how CAF allows that – but ok, I have to say it because it makes me unhappy,” he added.

We will show Cameroon no mercy

Broos, who led the Indomitable Lions to the 2017 AFCON glory, is determined to see South Africa advance.

“The game of tomorrow [Sunday] is surely a special game for me. As you know I won AFCON with our opponent of tomorrow, even though there are not so many players anymore; only Bassogog and N’Koudou, the rest I don’t really know,” he added.

“But if you win an AFCON with a country, there is always a little place in your heart that stays and that’s the case also with Cameroon and me, it will always be there. Tomorrow [Sunday] I can’t have mercy with them, I’m coach of South Africa now. But it’s a special game, I have to say that.

“It doesn’t mean that we are not going to fight… “I was surprised a little bit of the Cameroon team – it changed a lot when you compare it with qualifiers for the World Cup. I was a little bit surprised to see them playing. It’s a very good team, it’s a young team, some talented players. There is a good fighting spirit, a good mentality.

“That means that tomorrow we have achieve our best level if we want to beat them,” Broos concluded.