Hugo Broos: Bafana Bafana will arrive in Morocco no longer as 'one of those teams' but they go to Afcon 'as one of the best' on the continent

Hugo Broos has told his players that Bafana Bafana’s status on the continent has changed.

The Belgian coach revealed he told the players Bafana are no longer heading to the Africa Cup of Nations ‘as one of the teams’ but they leave for the spectacle in Morocco ‘as one of the best teams’.

“The only thing I have to tell them is to prepare them of what will come and what will come is what I told already from the beginning; the status of South Africa is different than two years ago. Two years ago, we were one of the teams. Now we are one of the best teams in AFCON,” Broos said this week.

“So, our opponents will not make the same mistake I think Morocco did in the previous one. They told South Africa, we beat them 2-1 for the qualification and here we beat them. But okay everything was decided; I think they were a little bit too relaxed against us. It will not happen again now, and we have to be aware of that.”

Bafana are in the same group as Angola, Egypt and Zimbabwe in the 35th edition of the continental showpiece.

A lot is expected from Broos’ group as they go to North Africa having also qualified for next year’s World Cup tournament co-hosted by USA, Mexico and Canada.

“Then you yourself put pressure on the team. They know it and also, they want to win AFCON. Don’t think they don’t want to win AFCON. So, I don’t have to put pressure there or I don’t have to repeat to them every two, three days ‘hey guys, come on we have to win it’. We don’t have to do that, and it should be a very bad thing to do it because then as a coach, you put the pressure on your team,” he said.