Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs legend Doctor Khumalo believes Hugo Broos’ men can still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup despite their recent setback against Rwanda.
South Africa suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat in Rwanda on Tuesday after they struggled to adapt to the waterlogged pitch at Huye Stadium following a Thunderstorm just before kick-off.
The result saw the 140th-ranked hosts overtake Bafana on the log in Group C, while favourites Nigeria – who are the highest-ranked team in the group – have started their qualifiers with two surprise draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Khumalo, though, has insisted that Broos’ men still have enough games to secure their ticket for the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“We should’ve won this but we still have a long way to go,” he said on SABC1.
“Yes, of course, it’s going to be difficult if we couldn’t beat Rwanda but we must just soldier on and believe in ourselves.
“I’d like to believe that that number one position is going to change, number two [South Africa] is going to leapfrog number one [Rwanda] – we just have to fight as a country because we have players that are capable to take us to that position where we belong to.
“It’s not by fluke that Nigeria find themselves there [in third place], but for us to be there today, it was just an unfortunate situation and I repeat footballing problems denied us our victory.”
Bafana will next face Nigeria and Zimbabwe when the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in June 2024.
