The Africa Cup of Nations may be at the end of the year, but Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has already made a plea to the PSL.
Bafana, the 2024 AFCON bronze medalists, will take on Egypt, Angola and Zimbabwe in Group B of this year's edition, determined to go even further than they did last time around.
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Broos, however, has one major concern and is hoping the PSL will make life easier for him. Before the 2024 AFCON, PSL matches ran until the end of 2023, giving players little time to rest before preparations for the continental competition got underway.
The team went on to finish third in Ivory Coast, so it would seem that the late finish of the domestic matches did not affect Bafana that much just based on results, but Broos would like the players to have sufficient rest before the AFCON preparations get underway. One might say if South Africa were fresher they would have finished the last AFCON stronger.
"I think the preparation will be a little bit the same like the last AFCON, that we can go somewhere for a week like we did in Stellenbosch for the last AFCON, to prepare. I hope, and this is something that we need to discuss with the PSL, that they don't do what they did last time, to play the last games two to three days before the preparations of AFCON start," Broos said during a round table discussion with media at SAFA House.
"I hope they give us one week more, so that we can give the players some days off and they can recuperate and then we can start on our preparations for AFCON. Maybe some people will say 'last time you got a bronze medal', but we don't have to talk like that. It's very important for players of Sundowns and Pirates, and maybe other teams who are playing Confederation Cup or Champions League, to have some rest before you start the preparations of AFCON. I hope the PSL will be more positive on that and they will give us a little bit more time to give players some time off with family."
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A big boost for Broos is that South African clubs are doing well in continental competitions. Both Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates have qualified for the CAF Champions League quarter-finals, while Stellenbosch FC have made it to the same stage in the Confederation Cup.
"That was one of the reasons we did so well in AFCON last time. The team had six-seven players of Sundowns. They had the experience of Champions League, so I think it was one of the reasons we did so well in AFCON. I was happy to see now that all South African teams qualified for the next round. This is international experience," Broos said.
It's going to be a big year for Bafana, with 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers coming up in March, so the expectations will no doubt be high on Broos' team.
