Hugo Broos fumes as Bafana Bafana denied right to train at match venue

Bafana are in Abidjan, where they will face Benin in a crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup Group K qualifier on Tuesday evening (18:00).

Currently leading the standings with five games remaining, Broos was left fuming as his side were unable to hold their customary MD-1 training session at the match venue, where Ivory Coast are hosting The Gambia in their Group F encounter this evening.

"First of all, I have to tell you I'm really not satisfied with the decision that we can't have a pre-match training [session] at the stadium where the game will be taking place," Broos said in his press conference.

"I think this is a FIFA rule, that every team has the right to have a preliminary training of 60 minutes before the game at the stadium where the match will take place.

"I don't understand – well, I understand because there is another game [tonight], but this is bad, when people who make the rules don't follow the rules."

The Belgian tactician further slammed organisers for having expectations they themselves could be held to, and suggested that Benin could well have already trained at the venue as they arrived in Abidjan before Bafana did on Sunday.

"Will that have an influence on the game? I don't know. But I know if, tomorrow after the game, I'm not at the press conference, there will be a sanction, so we have to follow the rules, where are the rules now?" he questioned.

"You will tell me, 'Oh, it's for both teams.' I don't think so. I think Benin has already trained in that stadium because they were here sooner than we were.

"So it's all nice to say, 'Oh, follow the rules! Follow this!' We have to follow everything, but we have the right to train in the stadium today where the match will take place, and we can't, and that is not honest and that is not correct."

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