Durban - The South African national football team recently assembled at the Ingwenyama Lodge in Mpumalanga as they stepped up their preparations for their upcoming international friendlies.
Bafana Bafana will face Mozambique at Mbombela Stadium on Thursday (8:30 pm kickoff) and then tackle Angola at the same venue on Sunday.
Hugo Broos, the coach of a new Bafana team, continues to pass his theories and philosophy onto his players.
The Belgian has highlighted the importance of establishing a certain level of quality on the international stage, one that would facilitate a greater chance of qualifying for major tournaments on a regular basis.
Before their recent win against Sierra Leone, Broos’ Bafana team had gone four matches without a victory, losing three.
Now Broos looks to create a squad capable of challenging for a place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and that is expected to start with establishing a winning mentality within the group.
"Winning is the first objective,” he told SAFA.net.
“That is the most important thing. If we can win twice again, then we have four victories in a row. This would give us a boost for the games in March next year (in the Afcon qualifiers against Liberia).
“Secondly, what I saw against Sierra Leone, I would like to see it again, the same way of playing. Maybe it might not be as successful because I think Angola and Mozambique are stronger than the Sierra Leone team we played against in September. So it will be tougher.
“But I want to see the intention to do it. I want to see that at last we have a certain manner of playing and we can get results with it. This is maybe the biggest thing we have to do in the next two games and prove it was not a surprise only against Sierra Leone.”
Banana will head into the next set of fixtures with a different team as Westerlo striker Lyle Forster leads a list of players who are unavailable due to injury.
Broos will hope new faces in the Bafana camp like the red-hot Monnapule Saleng and Bathusi Aubaas will make their mark in the friendlies.
@SmisoScribe