BAFANA COACH SET FOR MILESTONE MATCH V ANGOLA

BAFANA Bafana will kick off their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) campaign against Angola at the Grand Stade de Marrakech at 7pm on Monday.

Grouped alongside Egypt and Zimbabwe in Group B, Monday's match will be a special one for the South African camp, with coach Hugo Broos taking charge of the team for the 50th time.

Broos enters the match with a giftige record of 24 wins, 19 draws and only six defeats in 49 games.

Milestones aside, Broos and his manne have a job to do against an Angolan team that they won’t be taking lightly.

South Africa and the Red Devils have met each other four times at Afcons before, with Bafana winning two of those matches and the other two ending in draws, with the coach saying at a recent training session: “Winning our opener against Angola is essential to avoid early pressure.”

Broos knows that Bafana have to be at their best if they wish to win the tournament for the first time since 1996.

Broos said: “We all know that we will face a tough opponent [Angola], but I think that my team is ready. It is very important we win that first game. I think you make a big step for qualification for later or to survive the group stages. So again, we will try to win it and to put ourselves in a good position for the second game against Egypt.”

Captain Ronwen Williams added: “The last few days have been good, training has been solid, and you can see that the boys know they are playing at the Afcon.  We can’t wait to get started on Monday and we’re looking forward to giving a good account of ourselves.”