Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has praised his team’s fighting spirit after they revived their hopes of reaching the playoff round of the Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Bafana fought to a crucial 1-0 victory over Ghana on Monday evening at FNB Stadium.
Maritzburg United’s 21-year-old striker Bongokuhle Hlongwane was the hero for the home team.
His late strike propelled Bafana to the top of Group G after their goalless draw against Zimbabwe last Friday.
The win sees Bafana move to the top of the pile in Group C with 4 points, displacing Ghana who remain on three 3 points.
More importantly, it was Broos’ first win as Bafana coach in just his season match and he says he is impressed by his players’ defensive discipline after managing to keep another clean sheet.
“I am very proud and happy from what I saw on the pitch of my team. We made a big progress in one week from what I saw in Zimbabwe,” told reporters after the match.
“To have a clean sheet is very important because if you have a clean sheet you already have one point.
“Good organisation and discipline is very important. We did that today and a little bit less against Zimbabwe.
“Today there was a lot of discipline when we lost the ball, the players did what they were asked to do, we had a clean sheet and we scored the goal and we won.”
“We will see if we can go on like this and make progress like we did now in this week and we will see where we’ll end at the end of the qualifying race.”
South Africa will next face Ethiopia in a doubleheader in October, with Ghana playing Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe face off against each other later on Tuesday at 6 pm
Only the top spot team in each of the 10 groups will progress to the next round of qualifications.
While Bafana still have four fixtures to go, they are well-placed to retain the top spot.
