With less than two weeks to South Africa’s 2026 World Cup opening match against co-hosts Mexico in the first game of the tournament in Mexico City on June 11, their Belgian coach Hugo Broos, has told the media after naming his final 26-player squad that despite the difficult decision of picking his final squad, he is excited and confident of his team.
After Mexico, the Bafana Bafana are also expected to meet the Czech Republic in Atalanta on June 18 and South Korea in Monterrey on June 24.
Asked how he felt after announcing his squad, Broos said, “I feel relieved, excited and confident. The last two weeks were stressful because we had some very difficult decisions to make. We spent a lot of time discussing every position and every player.
Now the decisions have been made, I believe they are the right ones and I am excited because we are going to the World Cup. It is the biggest tournament in football and South Africa has waited a long time to return to this stage.
I am confident in the quality of this squad and believe we can achieve good results. It will not be easy, but there are no huge favourites in our group. If we can get three points as quickly as possible, I believe we have a very good chance of progressing to the knockout stages.
For South African football, it is an opportunity to make history.
Very difficult and very emotional. I told the players that I had to make decisions with my head and not my heart. If I followed my heart, we would have taken more than 26 players.
We spoke individually with every player who did not make the final squad. Those conversations are never pleasant, but they are part of football. Every decision was made with the team’s interests in mind.
Ultimately, a coach is judged by results. Right now, I believe these are the correct choices and we will see after the tournament whether that proves to be the case”.
On whether the players are mentally ready for the World Cup so soon after the domestic season, the Belgian gaffer said, “Not all of them yet, especially the Mamelodi Sundowns players. They have just won the CAF Champions League and have gone through an emotional period. They deserve the opportunity to celebrate and recover, particularly mentally.
That is why they were not immediately thrown back into action. After a short break and our final preparations, I believe there will be enough time for everybody to focus fully on the World Cup”.
