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Bruce on Angola victory
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackPagePix
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Bruce has reacted to his team’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Angola in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) opener on Monday.
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Oswin Appollis opened the scoring in the 21st minute before Manuel Show equalized for Negras and Lyle Foster scored the winning goal with 10 minutes left.
Looking back on the game, Broos felt his team looked complacent after taking a first-half lead, ultimately allowing Angola to get back into the game.
“As I said before the game, losing the first game puts you in trouble and we tried to avoid it. We started the game well, we played well, we scored a goal and then for whatever reason I suddenly fell asleep,” he said.
“Angola played well in the game, their combinations were dangerous and we suffered because we were no longer aggressive. There was no passion in the team, we played very slowly and you thought the opponent was going to score and it was there.”
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However, the Belgian mentor was pleased with his team’s second-half response and singled out substitute Moremi for breathing life into Bafana’s attack.
“We didn’t find our usual way of playing, so we made some adjustments at halftime. I thought Moremi’s service was good. He played well, was fast and posed a threat to the Angola defense, which changed a lot,” Burrows added.
“We were also more aggressive, we put more pressure on our opponents and we had more chances with Moremi’s goal, but well, it was offside – I see that now after the game. And then there was the shot [Mbekezeli] Mbokazi [hit the crossbar] And you thought that wasn’t going to happen tonight.
“But we had a great goal from Lyle and we are very happy with the win and now we can go into the game against Egypt on Friday instead of dropping points today.
Bafana have three points with Egypt, who beat Zimbabwe 2-1, and the two teams will battle it out for top spot in Group B on Friday, December 26.