Former Manchester United coach not giving Hugo Broos' Bafana Bafana much chance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, insists 'it will be really difficult for them'

Bafana Bafana have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after emerging from a tough qualifying pool that included Nigeria, Lesotho, Rwanda, Benin and Zimbabwe. 

The qualification marks South Africa’s return to the global showpiece after missing out on three straight editions. 

At the World Cup, Hugo Broos’ side have been drawn into Group A alongside hosts Mexico, South Korea and one winner from a European play-off. 

The final Group A spot will be decided via European playoffs involving Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Ireland. 

That playoff winner will complete what promises to be a competitive group. 

 Rene Meulensteen, a former Manchester United first-team coach under Sir Alex Ferguson, has taken time to analyse Group A and assess Bafana’s prospects.

Meulensteen does not see Hugo Broos' Bafana having a chance in their group and predicts an early exit.

“It all comes down to whether South Africa can win one game, and that may depend on whether Denmark, Ireland, Czech Republic, or North Macedonia qualify,” Meulensteen said as per IOL.    

“I think South Korea are a good side and may be too much for them. Mexico will play at home. I don’t think South Africa can win that.   

"Out of all those teams, Denmark are the ones you’d expect to qualify, and they too will probably have too much for South Africa. It will be really, really difficult for them.”

Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi has pointed at the areas he feels Bafana fell short at the 2025 AFCON where their campaign ended at the Round of 16 stage.

“Hugo did a lot well that we have to commend him for but in this AFCON I don’t think he was as focused as he was in the previous AFCON,” said Mngqithi on Prime Time Sports on UKhozi FM as per iDiski Times.  

“The mistakes he made in this one was elementary ones because I think he is a top coach.  

“If I can make an example with the Cameroon game. He made a mistake by benching two players who had played impressively before – Moremi and Modiba.  

“Before the game, I was thinking that we would need to have people that would exploit the space behind Cameroon. Moremi would have been the best candidate for that because we knew that Cameroon would try to come at us," added the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach.  

“We should have had a plan that if they come at us and we want to hit them with a counter, we must know what we have behind their defence.  

“It showed when Modiba put in two good balls into the box, Mudau or Foster should have scored one of them. But the truth is I think in this tournament, we were not beaten, we beat ourselves.”

MC Alger coach Rulani Mokwena has questioned Broos' decision when it came to selecting his men for AFCON.

“The problem with speaking a bit about the matches is it has a little bit more to do with the preparation and the selection, because the games are a reflection of a lot around it," said Mokwena. 

"And I just believe personally that in the national team, our best players must be available for such competitions. And I don’t think that we had all our best players in the best form at AFCON.  

“It’s a little bit difficult to comment because I don’t think that the performance of the team and the whole squad was a true reflection of what we are capable of doing and how we are capable of representing ourselves at AFCON.

“Generally, when we went to the previous AFCON, we went there without expectations and without a lot of pressure. But when people expect you to do well, then you need to have all your weapons. And I don’t think in this competition we were as prepared for," added Mokwena.

“That’s not really, it’s just for me, an opinion, you know? And I don’t like to voice my opinion a lot on these types of things because Hugo Broos has done incredible work. Of course, there are things that I disagree with.”