13 March 2025 – Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has named his final squad for this month’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin.
Broos’ charges resume the World Cup qualifiers when they host their COSAFA neighbours at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Limpopo, on Human Rights Day, Friday, 21 March 2025. They then fly to Côte d’Ivoire by charter to face Benin in the second qualifier a few days later. The Beninese will host the South African men’s senior national team in Côte d’Ivoire after their home grounds were deemed unsuitable for international matches. Kick off to the match in Polokwane is at 18h00.
Broos and team manager Vincent Tseka visited Polokwane a few days ago to inspect the pitch first-hand and the coach said he was happy with what he saw at Peter Mokaba Stadium. There were initially concerns over the readiness of the pitch after the surface was damaged following a music concert in December last year.
“The moment they told me about Polokwane, the first thing I said, because I saw games played there on that pitch, I said first thing, if the pitch is not better, we don’t go and people started working and the pitch is fantastic,” he said.
“I was there last week, and beautiful, really beautiful. We don’t have an excuse if we don’t have the result we want against Lesotho, saying ‘yes the pitch was not good’. No, no, no, the pitch is fantastic, and people did fantastic work and I’m very happy with it.”
The Bafana Bafana coach said the matches against Lesotho and Benin are a key point in the World Cup qualifying campaign.
“I will not say that it will be a key point, but it can be if we can achieve six on six. I think we can make a big step to qualification, I am sure. But we have to do it, so again these are very important games, very tough games, because don’t underestimate Lesotho, maybe not on quality but on mentality. It is a team that fights for 90 minutes for every meter and certainly when they play against South Africa, they will do one step more, I’m sure of it.
“Then we play Benin. We had difficulty against Benin one year ago when we played against them. We won 2-1 but it was a difficult game. The circumstances are different now, we made a lot of progression, but still, it will be a difficult game also. So, let’s hope we can achieve what we want, and we are able to do it. But again, in both games maybe the mentality will be more important than the quality.”
The team will assemble in Johannesburg on Monday morning, 17 March 2025 and then immediately travel to Polokwane where they will camp until the weekend. Tickets are on sale at TicketPro and they cost R70.00 for adults and R40.00 for children under the age of 12. The game will be broadcast live on SABC.
Access to the corporate/business 22-Seater Suite can be arranged with tsholot@polokwane.gov.za.
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