{"id":36407,"date":"2026-06-06T16:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=36407"},"modified":"2026-06-06T16:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:58:38","slug":"bafana-bafana-seeking-confidence-booster-ahead-of-world-cup-match","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/bafana-bafana-seeking-confidence-booster-ahead-of-world-cup-match\/","title":{"rendered":"Bafana Bafana seeking confidence booster ahead of World Cup match"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s Men\u2019s Football Team, Bafana Bafana is desperately seeking a confidence booster and momentum builder ahead of Thursday\u2019s opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 against co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Coach Hugo Broos\u2019 men take on Jamaica in their final World Cup warm-up match later on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The encounter will take place behind closed doors at the Hidalgo Stadium in Pachuca, where Bafana Bafana are based.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Broos is cognisant of the fact that team are winless in their last four matches and that confidence will be key when they take on the co-hosts in the opening match on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mexico is on a high and come off a thumping 5-1 win over Serbia on Thursday, a team ranked 42nd in the world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the match against Jamaica, which will be played behind closed doors, takes on new significance in the final preparation phase.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It will also give Broos the opportunity to assess the players before deciding on his starting 11 for the opening match of the spectacle.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":36408,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-36407","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Bafana Bafana is desperately seeking a confidence booster and momentum","published_date":"2026-06-06 16:57:51","news_description":"afana Bafana is desperately seeking a confidence booster and momentum","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36409,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36407\/revisions\/36409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}