How playing Panama will help Hugo Broos fine-tune his Bafana side ahead of the Fifa World Cup
Coach Hugo Broos aims to fine-tune Bafana Bafana by hosting Panama in two international friendlies in March, providing valuable experience against a team ranked 27 spots above them, as they prepare for the Fifa World Cup opener against Mexico. Picture: BackpagePix
Image: BACKPAGEPIX
It was with a few raised eyebrows as it was announced on Thursday that Bafana Bafana would host Panama in two international friendlies next month.
The matches are set to take place between March 27 and 31, and will be just three months before South Africa steps out onto Mexico City Stadium to take on co-hosts Mexico to open the Fifa World Cup on June 11.
The SA Football Association said that Panama would provide a good test for Bafana, since they are ranked 33rd in the Fifa rankings.
For reference, Mexico are 16th in the world and Korea Republic are 22nd. The fourth member of Group A is still to be determined.
Bafana’s Rising Potential: Facing Panama, 27 Spots Above, Offers Valuable Experience
Meanwhile, Bafana are 60th in the world and though they had a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) they are certainly a team on the rise.
Therefore, allowing Bafana to pit themselves against an opposition 27 spots above them in the rankings can only be a good thing.
In fact, Panama recently played Mexico on January 21. It was a tightly contested match with Mexico finding a late winner as Panama’s Richard Peralta scored an own goal.
Interestingly, Mexico organised the match because it viewed Panama as a similar type of opposition to South Africa. That was demonstrated during the match as Panama had a lot of the ball throughout the contest and looked dangerous on the counter but were unable to unlock the Mexico defence.
Therefore it’s safe to say that Panama will provide Bafana with some high-quality opposition, but tactically it will be a rather different proposition than SA have in in their World Cup opener.