Bafana’s Afcon loss to Cameroon: Hugo Broos blames bad luck, eyes future success at Fifa World Cup
South Africa's head coach Hugo Broos (R) shakes hands with Cameroon's head coach David Pagou after the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) round of 16 football match at Al Medina Stadium in Rabat on January 4, 2026. Picture: Paul Ellis/AFP
Image: Paul Ellis/AFP
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has put his side’s 2-1 defeat to Cameroon in their Round of 16 clash at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) down to bad luck.
Once again, defensive errors proved costly for Bafana at Agdal Medina Stadium, in Rabat, on Sunday.
Cameroon led 1-0 at halftime through a Junior Tchamadeu strike before doubling their advantage straight after the interval as Christian Kofane made it 2-0.
Two minutes before the regulation 90 minutes were up, Bafana struck as Evidence Makgopa found the back of the net, but it proved to be scant consolation as Bafana crashed out at the first knockout stage.
Bafana and Hugo Broos’ Shift Focus to Future Success at Fifa World Cup
“Sometimes you need luck on your side, and two years ago in the quarter-final against Cape Verde, Ronwen Williams made a big save; otherwise, we could have lost that game,” said Broos.
“Today we didn’t have luck on our side. We are not going backwards, but we do have to make a good evaluation of what happened here at this tournament as we look forward to the World Cup.”
Instead of dwelling on this defeat in the tournament in which they finished third in the previous edition, Broos chose to look ahead.
“We don’t go backwards — maybe in some games, performances were not at the level of South Africa that everyone knows, but you can’t say that for today.
“In the next days and weeks, we will make an evaluation in detail on what was good and not good, and we will see what we have to change because the World Cup is in six months, and we need to be ready for that.
“We will see that we are ready in March to play those friendlies and be well prepared for the World Cup.”