The city of Kigali will welcome Bafana on Tuesday, with Rwanda looking to take advantage of home territory in their bid to claim their first win of qualifying.
Bafana Bafana’s mental toughness is expected to be put to the test as they look to complete a perfect week in World Cup qualifying.
The city of Kigali will welcome Bafana on Tuesday, with Rwanda looking to take advantage of home territory in their bid to claim their first win of qualifying.
Having dropped points already against Zimbabwe at home, The Wasps will want to collect at least four points in their two matches, which will make Bafana’s trip difficult.
Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has always emphasised the importance of his men being mentally prepared to withstand the difficulties of grabbing positive results in their away games.
In his first World Cup qualifying campaign, Broos helped Bafana draw against Zimbabwe and win against Ethiopia but, unfortunately, lost the most decisive one against Ghana in the three away matches he managed.
Training at Huye Stadium – Rwanda. Ready for game day tomorrow. #BafanaPride #WCQ2026 pic.twitter.com/ZGD0hUQncv
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) November 20, 2023
While he has placed more importance on winning home matches, avoiding defeat and possibly grinding out victories in difficult places on the continent remains one of the team’s targets.
The players and coach admitted that Bafana showed their erratic habits in what looked like a routine win over Benin in their match against Benin on Saturday.
Having built a strong 2-0 lead, Bafana seemingly took their foot off the gas and allowed their less-fancied opposition back into it, conceding a goal in the final 20 minutes of the match.
However, Bafana were able to withstand late pressure in front of their own supporters, but it could go in a different direction in a foreign country under different conditions.
Under Broos, Bafana have shown their ability to surprise when not given a chance – first against Morocco in June in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and then most recently away to Ivory Coast where they created the better match-winning opportunities in a 1-1 draw.
Gernot Rohr, Benin’s head coach, said one of the difficulties in playing Bafana was the chemistry of the six players of Mamelodi Sundowns that made up Broos’s starting 11.
The Brazilians recently conquered the continent when they beat Wydad Casablanca to lift the African Football League (AFL), experience that is expected to help Bafana moving forward.
Having already suffered three injury-enforced changes, Bafana might have a further two more as Orlando Pirates striker Evidence Makgopa and Mothobi Mvala (Sundowns) hobbled off with injuries in the second half.
Broos could not offer any updates on the extent of both injuries but opened the door to the possibility of calling up two replacements if both players aren’t passed fit by the time his team jets off to Rwanda.
“I don’t know (the extent of their injuries) …
“We have a flight tomorrow (Sunday) already.
“It’s up to the doctors to give a good diagnosis this evening (Saturday), and then we’ll see what we’ll do for the travel to Rwanda — if we take two new players or maybe we can count on them (Mvala and Makgopa) on Tuesday,” he said.
