The Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos, expects his team to be a lot sharper when they face South Sudan in Juba on Tuesday afternoon, but they are under no illusion as to how difficult it will be.

It will be South Africa’s second 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier after playing to a 2-2 draw on Friday at the Orlando Stadium.

The 2024 AFCON bronze medal winners in Ivory Coast have had more time to prepare, while the 90 minutes on the field against the Cranes were invaluable. South Africa lacked playing time heading into the match against Uganda and Broos feels that his team will be able to lift the intensity despite the heat and travelling.

Hugo Broos. Picture: Morgan Piek

The Belgian coach, Broos (72), believes that while they dropped points in Soweto, the game also prepared them well for what will be a very different and difficult challenge.

“I think we will have a tough game on Tuesday. I saw Sudan in the last three games against Togo, Algeria, and Congo. So we know it’s an aggressive thing and I don’t mean it negatively – they are very dedicated,” said Broos. “It’s also a synthetic pitch. It is not easy. So, I expect a very difficult game.

“You never know that you are going to win the game. You never know if it’s against South Sudan or Nigeria or whatever. You just try to win the game and this is what we will try to do on Tuesday.

“So it’s a different game on a different pitch, a different opponent. So we will see on Tuesday. The Uganda game was difficult. [We won that game because Uganda didn't create chances.] And they scored a second goal after a mistake from our goalkeeper.

“But we had three, four, five other chances to score. So we will see how the game is going on Tuesday, but again, we will try to win the game.”

This afternoon’s Group K qualifier between South Sudan and South Africa kicks off at 15:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg