Hugo Broos raves over display against Mozambique

Despite dominating from the beginning, South Africa went a goal down early in the first half and were left to chase the game.

But striker Bongokuhle Hlongwane – returning to the national team following a lengthy absence due to a niggling injury – scored twice in the second half to give Broos a display he thought was pleasing to the eye.

"Yeah, it's not only the win it's also the way we had the win. I think we played a very good game. We did a little mistake in the beginning of the game, so it was 0-1 for Mozambique but we controlled the game from the 1st minute until the last. We just have problems sometimes with our own thoughts," he said.

Mozambique took the lead through Nelson Divrassone after captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams made a costly error with a stray pass–something Broos says is unusual.

"Ronwen, those two times... I'm not used to seeing that from him because when there is a keeper who is very strong with his feet it's Ronwen, but now it's those two times where he did very dangerous things," the coach explained.

 "That were the only moments, except the ball on the post, that I can think of. I can't think of another opportunity for Mozambique. So, that means that we dominated it, we played good football, really – sometimes, one-touch football."

Broos adds that what he saw in Nelspruit against a Mozambique team made up of only their locally based players gives them a strong belief Bafana can get maximum points in the crucial upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia, which is only set for March 2023.

"We had 10 chances throughout the game, so I think that we can be happy with the performance. I'm not only happy, I'm also proud of the team. We saw something in September and we worked on it the last few days, we talked with the players," Broos added.

"It's a good thing to see as a coach that what you ask and what you try to do, that they are doing it on the pitch. So this gives us again more confidence and we will try to win the game on Sunday also. If we can achieve that, I think we are more than ready for the important games in March."