Hugo Broos has hit back at critics following Bafana Bafana's 2-0 win over Uganda to see South Africa go top of Group K, with both teams having already qualified for the 2025 AFCON.
Bafana celebrated their qualification to next year's Africa Cup of Nations in style with a convincing 2-0 win over Uganda in a match played at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium in Kampala, Uganda on Friday.
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Goals came from Thapelo Morena and Patrick Maswanganyi.
Bafana had already qualified a day before the fixture.
South Africa were confirmed as having qualified for the continental showpiece to be staged in Morocco after third-placed Congo-Brazzaville suffered a shock defeat to fourth-placed South Sudan in their last qualifier clash on Thursday.
The result left both South Sudan and Congo with no mathematical chance of overtaking either South Africa or Uganda, meaning the two qualification spots from Group K are already guaranteed.
Speaking to media after the match, Broos said that despite the qualification, the victory was an important one.
"It was very important to win, but certainly, to be first in the group. Nobody can say we are lucky like some people were saying yesterday (when Bafana qualified through Congo's loss). After the defeat of Congo,[they said] 'South Africa is lucky'.
"So, we proved today that we don't need luck, that if we want we can prove that we win games and that with 14 points - if we win on Tuesday - that we deserve to qualify for AFCON.
And the second from Maswanganyi that wrapped this dish up beautifully.....#BafanaPride#AfconQualifier pic.twitter.com/8tPxlADbel
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) November 15, 2024
"It's very important for South Africa to win this group. We were qualified, but we were not happy that we were second in the group, so that's why today we tried to win the game against Uganda and we succeeded. So, this is what they call 'the cherry on the top'.
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"Okay, we are qualified, we could have qualified even if we lost the game, but that is not what we wanted. We want to win every game. We fought for it tonight (Friday) and we will fight for it again on Tuesday, to get the three points," added the Belgian.
Bafana's next and final AFCON qualifier test will be against South Sudan at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Kick-off is at 18:00.