Why Bafana coach believes South Africa stint is better than winning AFCON with Cameroon

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos believes what he has achieved in South Africa is bigger than what he did with Cameroon, where he won the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Broos is set to manage his 49^th match for Bafana Bafana when they take on Angola at AFCON 2025 and as he gets closer to his 50^th game, the veteran has overseen a transformation in the South African national team since his arrival in May 2021.

Once seen as the perennial underachievers of Africa, South Africa are now considered one of the title contenders at AFCON 2025 after Broos picked a team that had not qualified for AFCON 2021 and took them to third place in 2023.

Since then, he has overseen a 26-match unbeaten run, qualified for a second AFCON in a row and made it to the World Cup for the first time since 2002, creating belief in his players and raising expectations among the supporters.  

Broos rates his Bafana stint highly

The Belgian tactician coached Cameroon between 2016 and 2017, leading them to their fifth African title eight years ago, and he says it was much easier to guide the Indomitable Lions to AFCON glory than leading Bafana Bafana to third place in 2023.

“You know, when I’m honest, I think what we did with South Africa was better than what I did with Cameroon,” said Broos as per iDiski Times.

“We built a team here and that team progressed day by day. And then you go to AFCON, and you have ambitions, but you never think that one moment you should have the opportunity to play the final. The first time I think 95% of the group for them was the first AFCON they played. So, you don’t expect that but the progression we made was enormous. Cameroon was a team they were used to in an AFCON.

What is different between SA and Cameroon?

“They were seen as one of the favourites to win AFCON. So, it was a little bit different, and the pressure was also much higher in Cameroon. So, I think what we did with South Africa here be third in the previous [AFCON], again now two times in a row, qualified for AFCON and qualified for World Cup. I wasn’t with Cameroon.”

The 73-year-old feels taking a team that had no superstars, made up of locally-based players and turning them into a formidable force has been one of his greatest coaching achievements and hopes to complete the job by lifting his team to AFCON 2025 glory.

“We won AFCON and four months later, we were out of qualification, Nigeria went to AFCON,” he added.

Belgian coach looking forward to great AFCON

“So what we did here for me, I am more happy with the work I did here than with the work I did with Cameroon, because you can expect that from Cameroon when you go to AFCON, but I don’t think that everyone here in the room, and even I expected two years ago that we should play the semi-finals.

“So yeah, it was a great campaign, and it’s still not finished, not at all. So, we will see now in two weeks, and then again, I will try to end my career with a fantastic performance in America, Oh, no, in Mexico now it’s not America anymore. Yeah, it’s very nice for me, really.”

South Africa open their AFCON 2025 campaign against Angola on Monday before they take on Egypt on Boxing Day and then Zimbabwe on December 29.