Hugo Broos has drawn some comparisons to his 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winning squad and his current Bafana Bafana team.
The Belgian won the 2017 AFCON in Gabon after finishing second in Group A behind Burkina Faso, before beating Senegal on penalties, Ghana in the semi-finals and Egypt in the final.
It was a largely unimpressive route to the knockout stages, with criticism high in Cameroonian media as the build-up to the tournament was marred by Broos dropping several high-profile players and questioning the quality of their local league players.
It appears Groundhog Day for the veteran coach but whether he can use that inspiration to fire South Africa past Morocco, only time will tell.
“You know comparing teams are always difficult as the circumstances are sometimes different, but on the other side, when you see what we did, if I compare it with Cameroon, it’s the same a bit,” Broos said when asked by Moroccan media, if there are comparisons to his Indomitable Lions squad from 2017.
“We went through the group stages, we played [well] but not really fantastic, and then came that difficult game against Senegal, we [won] on penalties and from then we flew, we have so much confidence that we won it. So you can compare that a bit, but against [Bafana], I don’t like to compare things – it’s always different.
“We have a different opponent, a team that was fourth at the World Cup, it’s something else tomorrow. But if you want to, you can compare Bafana to Cameroon, yes.”
Broos, who is in his second natinal team managerial job of his career, says it will be crucial to try and win the game in regulation time, as the weather conditions could play its role.
With humidity at 80 to 90 percent in San Pedro, it’s different conditions to what they endured in Korhogo, where conditions cooled down after sunset.
Meanwhile, the Atlas Lions have spent the entire group stage in the city and have somewhat acclimatised to what’s ahead, should the game move into extra-time.
“It’s true we [Cameroon] beat Senegal, six or seven years ago, with penalties, maybe it’s possible tomorrow the game ends with penalties,” Broos said.
“I would like that it would finish in 90 minutes and that we win because the [conditions] are very hot, so everything you have to do more to play after [full-time], so let’s hope after 90 minutes, there will be a winner and it will be us.
“But again, I know what it is… winning with penalties is maybe more beautiful than winning after 90 minutes but the game should stop at 90 minutes, so both teams won’t be affected by the circumstances, climatical circumstances.”
Sphephelo Sithole, who’s played anchor alongside Teboho Mokoena admits the start of the tournament was rough after coming from winter conditions in Portugal.
“The weather has not been easy for me, and I think for the guys as well, coming from South Africa to West Africa, the weather, the sun, it’s too hot here,” Sithole added.
“But I think as players you need to be able to adapt to every situation that you’re going to play in and we’ve done that and we’ve upped our game.”
