Bafana form makes them marked men in Morocco, says head coach Hugo Broos

Broos led Bafana to third place at the last AFCON, where they overcame DR Congo on penalties in the third/fourth play-off after losing out to Nigeria on penalties in their semi-final clash.

The Belgian head coach also steered his side to the World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.

Bafana face Angola, Egypt and Zimbabwe in Group B at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

First up is an international friendly with Zambia on Saturday, and Broos has explained that his team will need to work even harder for results.  

He said in the Citizen: "For us it is a bit different. We are (the real) South Africa now, two years ago we were just a team.

"Because of our performance and results I do think our opponents will start to prepare for us a bit differently.

"This is a next step we will have to make. If we can step up (at the AFCON) and get the same results, I think the progress we will have made will be enormous, and can help us to also do very well at the World Cup."

Broos added it is important to get a win in their match with Zambia.

“For me friendlies don't exist,” he explained.

"Every game we must be concentrated on trying to win and this game will not be different. Our first idea was to let the Sundowns and Pirates players stay with their clubs because of their overloaded programme. But then we changed our minds.

"We want to win. It is important for the ranking, we want to stay in the top ten and even get to ninth again in Africa. And one month before the AFCON it will not be a very good thing to lose the game on Saturday."