Bafana Bafana's dozen count in qualifying for the AFCON finals could be sealed as soon as Tuesday with Hugo Broos' success rate in this competition on to distinction marks.
Regardless of whether he is still not embraced by everyone due to his honesty in addressing matters, Broos has brought back the dignity of the senior national team with results providing the proof.
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Bafana are on the other end of the Congo River in Brazzaville, where they play the hosts in the second of their back-to-back fixtures in Group K of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers at the Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat.
The pitch at that stadium in Brazzaville has been the only reason of concern for Broos as it has an artificial turf.
The first game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha was a convincing 5-0 win for Bafana.
That result left Broos' team just needing to win away in Congo to seal their place at the AFCON finals to be played in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026.
If Bafana win on Tuesday in Brazzaville, they will move up to 10 points, giving them the comfort of playing the last two games in the group against Uganda and South Sudan having already sealed qualification.
In the event of a defeat, Congo will only be able to reach nine points if they win their last two games after Tuesday's game, while the group's whipping boys South Sudan never had much of hopes from the first day.
Broos guided Bafana to a third-place finish at the last AFCON finals in Cote d'Ivoire after having adopted a team that had dismally failed to qualify for the previous tournament.
The competition in Morocco will be the last for Broos with Bafana as he is due to return home after the expiry of his contract in June 2026.
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Broos will have turned 74 by then but will hope to have taken the senior national team to the World Cup qualification in USA, Canada and Mexico.
That qualification campaign is four games old with Bafana in second place.