Algeria and South Africa face off in a prestigious friendly on Tuesday March 26. It's a promising match between a rebuilding Algeria and a South Africa on the upswing, as evidenced by their highly-rated AFCON. Coach Hugo Broos talked about the stakes for his team.
"It's certainly going to be a tough match, because we all know that Algeria have a lot of quality," says the Belgian. He then looked back at the Fennecs' AFCON campaign, when they were surprisingly eliminated in the group phase. "It was a disappointment for all Algerians to see their team at the AFCON, where they were eliminated in the group phase even though they had a lot of quality," he continues. These results," he seems to be saying between the lines, "have Algeria out for revenge and that's a good thing, if you want to have good opposition.
It was the 2nd AFCON in a row in which Algeria was eliminated so quickly. This led to the ousting of Djamel Belmadi. Since then, Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic has been appointed to help Algeria regain their position. The team showed great promise in the Swiss coach's first match, a last-gasp 3-2 win over Bolivia.
Hugo Broos had this to say about Algeria's performance. "I watched the game they played on Friday against Bolivia and you can see that the players' motivation is totally different because there's a new coach," he says. He believes that this is a good thing in view of their match against a team that will want to win. This will make for a competitive match. The reason, he says, is that all the Algerians will be looking to show their best side, "They (the Algerians: Editor's note) want to show Petkovic that they deserve to be part of the team. This motivation will be very high in their team, playing at home and with fans present", he announces.
South Africa's task: getting the focus right
However, they lost a lot of ground.In the end, the team had to settle for a draw. His coach pointed to the lack of goalscorers in his squad as the reason for the draw. Bafana Bafana will now try to make up for it against Algeria on home soil, and above all to get their attacking shape right. Bafana Bafana will now try to make up for it against Algeria on home soil, and above all to get their attacking shape right. Broos declared. "It'll be a good test after the AFCON, and we'll try to get a good result, but the performance is much more important than the result," he says.
The coach, on the other hand, isn't putting any pressure on himself. He just wants his team to get stronger. For him, the key dates will be the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers, when he expects his squad to reach peak form. "However, we need a good result to maintain our ranking, but it will be more important when we face Nigeria and Zimbabwe in June (June 3 and 10, World Cup qualifiers), and there will be no excuses", he warns.
In the final analysis, this match is also a good test for Algeria, and a very important one indeed in view of the deadlines that lie ahead. Algeria, 2nd in Group C of the World Cup qualifiers, will cross swords on June 3.
Bafana Bafana training at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers, Algeria. The South African senior men's team face the hosts in the second FIFA Series match on Tuesday night. pic.twitter.com/pRK983WWZr
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) March 25, 2024
