Broos reacts to World Cup draw

by Staff Reporter

Monday Dec 08, 2025. 13:00

South African head coach Hugo Broos is optimistic of his side’s chances to progress to the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after their opponents were revealed at the draw in Washington D.C. on Friday.

Bafana Bafana has been drawn in Group A with co-hosts Mexico, Korea Republic and the winner of European play-off D, which will either be Czechia, Ireland, North Macedonia or Denmark.

With Mexico standing as the 15th best team in the world and Korea Republic as the 22nd, according to the FIFA rankings, head coach Hugo Broos is preparing for a tough challenge in the group stage.

“It’s not an easy one. First of all, we played the first game of the tournament against Mexico in Azteca Stadium. A home game for Mexico, so it will be very tough for us, that game. Secondly, we have South Korea, so from that point I was happy with Mexico and South Korea,” said Broos, speaking after the draw.

“And I hope the last one, it should be something else than what we have now. So now probably we will have also Denmark in our group. So we have Mexico and Denmark, two very big teams. So it will be difficult for us to be second or first.”

However, with an expanded World Cup comes more places in the knockout stages. Broos is aiming to advance at least as one of the best finishing third-placed teams in group play.

“But on the other side, with the new World Cup, the first eight of third places can go through. So we have to focus on that, and maybe we can be one of the best first and third places,” he said.

The former Belgian international, who represented his nation at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, stated the experience at the global showpiece will be great for his players and emphasised that his boys would fight tooth and nail, as they did in their qualifying campaign.

“So it’s not so easy, but on the other side, I think it will be a very good experience for our team. It’s something we need to play against those teams. We will learn a lot, certainly, and we will see. In football, everything is possible. We will go for it, like we did the last two, three years. We will fight for it, and we will see where we end.”

Bafana Bafana will feature in the tournament opener against Mexico for a second time, having faced the North American country in the opening game in 2010 in Johannesburg. That encounter ended in a 1-1 draw.

The winners of the European play-offs will be decided in March 2026.