South Africa coach Hugo Broos has admitted that Bafana Bafana’s round of 16 tie against Morocco is going to be tough, but he has also said that if his team can get past the World Cup semi-finalists that their path to the final looks good.
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s game against The Atlas Lions Broos said: “The group stages ask a lot of the players because you play against very motivated teams — they all want to go to the next round.
“It’s amazing what happened in the group stages here in this Afcon.
“So, it asks a lot of the players, but I think if you manage them well we can produce a good game against Morocco.
“But Morocco are also on another level. They showed it at the last World Cup in Qatar. They have become a very good team with very good players.
“But we have played them twice — in Morocco we were a bit dominated but in Joburg we won against them. That must give us confidence for Tuesday’s game, and [believing] that even against such a good team as Morocco there are things that are possible.
“We have to believe in that, and then we will see. If we beat Morocco, then we know we have a big chance to play in the final.
“Because you will have beaten a very good team and then in the next round you avoid a big team — you don’t play against a Senegal or Ivory Coast.
“And I don’t want to underestimate Cape Verde or Mauritania but it’s still a difference from playing those teams than against a side like we are playing on Tuesday.
“So, we know that if we can [beat Morocco] we take a big step towards what we all wanted — playing in the final and maybe winning it,” he said.
The Moroccan side feature a host of recognizable names on which to draw, these include Sofyan Amrabat, Hakim Ziyech, Nayef Aguerd and Achraf Hakimi.
South Africa play Morocco on Tuesday at 10pm.
