Mental recovery is key in fight for third place – Broos

Head coach of the South African head coach, Hugo Broos says the fight for a bronze medal in the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 will be more of a mental battle than anything. 

South Africa face Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, 10 February in Abidjan at 20h00 in a third and fourth place play-off after both sides were eliminated in the semi-finals on Wednesday. 

According to the Belgian tactician who guided South Africa to their first semi-final since 2000, the key to clinching a third place will be in how they mentally recover from the heart-breaking semi-final loss.

“We played a very good game against Nigeria. It was a great performance and we showed that we are a great team again. When you exit after 120 minutes, it’s always a huge disappointment. When you play so good, the disappointment is so big. The game tomorrow is special. It depends a bit on which team will be mentally recovered because also for DRC, it was difficult to lose like that”. 

Bafana Bafana were edged 4-2 by Nigeria after a dramatic 1-1 draw in Bouake while the Leopards were edged 1-0 after a hard-fought encounter with the hosts, Cote d’Ivoire. 

Kick off at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny is at 20h00 GMT.