'He is proving it!' Kaizer Chiefs icon happy to see Hugo Broos prove his doubters wrong after Orlando Pirates stars inspire Bafana Bafana to Angola win at AFCON

Bafana Bafana started their 2025 AFCON title bid with a 2-1 victory over Angola at Stade Marrekech on Monday. 

Oswin Appollis and Lyle Foster were on target to hand South Africa the important win in this Group B encounter.  

Before Foster's goal, Tshepang Moremi had his effort ruled out for forward after the Orlando Pirates winger had come in for Mohau Nkota at halftime. 

Foster grabbed the winner just as pressure was mounting on coach Hugo Broos to take him off and replace him with Evidence Makgopa.   

But the Burnley forward saved the day for Bafana and was ultimately named the Man of the Match, leaving Kaizer Chiefs legend Doctor Khumalo hailing Broos' decisions on Foster and Moremi.

“Look at that ball, played to Moremi then back to him and he scores the final goal and a goal we had all been expecting," said Khumalo as per iDiski Times.

"So I think coach now 100% he is proving it that he knows the kind of players that he has. Even I was saying at least [bring on] Makgopa because you know he can give us like off the ball run and all of that, tracking back and also dead ball situations.    

“But he kept him [Foster] and I know probably he’s saying no man I still have two games to play. Now, if I throw everyone in there they’ll analyse us and find us out quickly. So let me rather allow this one to finish the game," he continued.

“And he has said it before that in this game you need luck and that’s what we got.”

Broos sees the slim win as a wake-up call as he admits victory did not come easily. cc

“You always know when you start a tournament that players try to feel how things are going, and we played against a team that plays differently than an average African team,” Broos said.

“This is not African football they are playing; it is technical and passing football — and there is also power in them. For us, maybe we were a bit surprised with the goal we scored early in the game and we thought things were done.  

“We had a wake-up call and my voice was a bit louder than usual in the locker room at halftime — and you saw the reaction in the second half. I know these guys and this will never happen again," added the Belgian.

“It was lucky we won this game because there was no damage, but this can’t happen again. They cannot have the feeling that when they start the game it will be easy. But I am happy they got the wake-up call and we won the game.”

Angola coach Patrice Beaumelle says the mistakes they made coact the the game against Bafana. 

“We knew that facing Bafana Bafana would be difficult. Perhaps some people thought it would be an easy game for Bafana Bafana, but I think we played a strong game. It wasn’t easy, and we had some chances to score as well,” said Beaumelle as per KickOff.

 “The statistics keep coming, congratulations to Bafana Bafana. As I said, the statistics against Angola keep coming, but there is also another statistic — 27 games without a single defeat — so congratulations.

“The tournament is long, and we have to collect points to stay in the group stage. The second of the three matches will be crucial for us to get points. But that’s football. 

“We lost one game today, but the atmosphere in the dressing room is positive because we respected the plan," added the Frenchman. 

"We made a lot of mistakes, and when you make mistakes against a team like this, it’s difficult.

“We need to correct that and be more effective against Zimbabwe to collect points. We are still in the competition.”