South Africa’s Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has declared tomorrow’s friendly game against the Chipolopolo of Zambia a must-win.

Broos said the match will be a great opportunity for his side to prepare for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which runs in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

“I said already at the beginning of the week at the press conference, this is a friendly game, but for me, it’s not a friendly game,” Broos told a pre-match press conference on Friday. “It’s a game that I want to win, and I ask from the players tomorrow the same concentration, focus, and mentality that they showed already in the previous months and years, and I want to win the game tomorrow.”

Broos said he watched Zambia, particularly their last game against Niger in the World Cup qualifiers, and believes they are a strong opponent.

“Always we are looking at games of our opponent and that is not different now for the game tomorrow against Zambia. And if I can refer to one game, the game against Niger, I think they [played] a fantastic game, and they lost the game. But I think they didn’t deserve to lose that game. And when I saw them, I’m sure that tomorrow, it will not be easy for us, that we have to play at our best level. And that for us, it’s a very good game in preparing for the AFCON next month.”

For Zambia’s coach Moses Sichone, the match will also be taken seriously as he looks to assess his squad ahead of the AFCON.

“We are looking forward to tomorrow’s game because it’s part of AFCON as well. So we are taking this game so seriously and, see what the outcome is tomorrow,” Sichone said.

He also praised South Africa’s progress, particularly their qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and said, “We expect a tough game.”

Apart from their meetings in the Cosafa Cup, Zambia and South Africa last faced each other in 2020 in a match that ended 2-1 in favour of Chipolopolo.

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