Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says they should guard against complacency when facing Cape Verde as their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations dream gets closer to realisation.
After the 2-0 win over tournament favourites Morocco, something Broos said could be the catalyst for a potential run to the final, the West African side awaits in the last-eight.
Having won Group B ahead of Egypt, Ghana and Mozambique, the Islanders beat Mauritania with a slender 1-0 win this week to book a place in the quarter-finals.
The Belgian tactician, the only coach remaining in the tournament who’s won it before, having lifted it with Cameroon in 2017 says it would be suicidal to think it’s less of a challenge than the Atlas Lions, who are Africa’s number one ranked side.
“We’re very happy to still be in this tournament, you know when you play a game against the favourites for AFCON and you win it, I think we did a great performance and that performance has given a boost of confidence, belief,” Broos said.
“I think we’ll be ready for the game tomorrow – we don’t underestimate the team of Cape Verde. Okay, they are not the same team as Morocco with all the high-quality players who play in big teams in Europe.
“But what I saw from the team, I think we don’t have to underestimate them – they have quality, it’s a team on the pitch with disciplined players, they know their roles, it’s difficult to play against them.
“It means we need to achieve our best level again tomorrow, if we want to be in the semi-finals, I think it’s normal that little by little we start dreaming about the final but it should be a very big mistake to think that after beating Morocco, that everything will be easier.
“Let’s start on Saturday to try and beat Cape Verde and then we’ll see what will be after that. We’re confident but on the other side we know it will be tough, if you want to compare the game on Saturday and the game on Tuesday, I think there’s no difference, it will be as tough as Tuesday, and we know already.”
The two sides meet on Saturday evening at Stade Charles Konan Banny de Yamoussoukro (22h00).
