Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed he is confident his team can qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations final after reaching the Last 16.
The Belgian tactician guided Bafana into the knockout stages after doing the same with Cameroon in 2017.
And just like in 2017, when no one really counted on his young team, not many have South Africa on the cards to reach the final, but Broos believes his team can do exactly that.
“I’m too happy to qualify to the next round,” he said after the goalless draw with Tunisia, who were Africa’s third highest-ranked team going into the tournament.
“We had a difficult group with Tunisia, Mali and Namibia, but we did well. So, we began a new competition in the next round.
“We aim to qualify to the final, why not. We have a good team and Im very confident.”
Broos also explained that he believes the results in Group E have shown how much his side have progressed compared to one year ago.
“After two-year-and-a-half I think little by little you have to know who I am, as human being and as a coach,” he added.
“And I want win every match. When I came here, I knew there was a possibility to have a good team – it took time.
“We did sometimes maybe not the right choices, but in the end we had the team we want and you can’t come – whatever team you are – you can’t come to AFCON and say ‘ok, you’re happy now’.
“You always have to have some goals to achieve. Our first goal was to pass the group stages, even we were not in an easy group with Tunisia and Mali.
“Ok, we did it and three times with a different game, the game against Mali, the game against Namibia and the game today was totally different.
“That means that we progressed a lot and that we have to believe in our qualities, even though there are still some people who don’t believe, so there is quality.
“But we need these type of tournament to become better. We will not be better – and excuse me, it’s not a lack of respect – but we can’t progress if we face teams like Lesotho.
“Here we progress, we play against Tunisia, we play against Namibia, maybe next time we play against Morocco. This is the game which make you progress and we progressed.
“And this makes me very happy. Like I said three times we made it in a different way, and it means that this team progressed a lot compared to one-and-a-half year ago.”
