After Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos was left impressed with the turn-out during the most recent national team match, he has now issued a plea to the fans ahead of the crucial 2025 AFCON qualifier clash Uganda on Friday.
Bafana played at a nearly sold-out Toyota Stadium in July when they hosted Zimbabwe for a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier clash – an encounter that ended 3-1 in the home side's favour.
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Broos is hoping for more of the same when his troops take on the Cranes at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday evening.
"I've asking for a year: 'Please come to the stadium! Please, we need you supporters! We need you!' And I think Bloemfontein showed that you need the crowd," Broos said.
"It's not so easy when you come out of the dressing room at the stadium and then you look and there are a thousand people in the stadium of [a capacity of] 25 000.
"I don't even talk about the big stadium [FNB], where there [should be] 100 000 people but there are only 2000 people. Mentally it's not easy. So, it was fantastic in Bloemfontein.
"You saw it in the game against Zimbabwe. We scored and made the game 1-0 after four minutes it was 1-1... we lost the game. The game went out of our hands, we didn't have that control anymore, but if you have that crowd, that motivates players. Then you saw that 10 minutes or 15 minutes later, the game was in our hands again.
"That's why this crowd has to be there. If there is a thousand people, then what's this? It doesn't motivate the players.
"But then again, let's hope... But I will be happy if it's half-full tomorrow. That means that is 10 000 people or a little bit more. So, we will be already happy with that. So, let's hope there will be more."
The match against will kick off at 18:00.