Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has defended picking less-fancied Eswatini as an international friendly match opponent.

South Africa host Sihlangu at FNB Stadium on Friday as they prepare for November's 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers as well as January's Africa Cup of Nations finals.

With Bafana ranked 65 in the world by Fifa, their neighbours are a distant 79 rungs below, at 144.

On paper, Eswatini seems unlikely to challenge Broos's team sufficiently in preparation for major tournaments.

"Why Eswatini? Because we thought it was the best preparation after Namibia for our qualifiers in November," Broos told Safa media.

"Those are the teams that are playing a little bit the same way, the same style. They are not teams that try to win against us but try not to lose.

"Therefore, again, Eswatini gives us good preparations. The result against Eswatini will be very important.

"I want to win against them and not have the same problems we faced against Namibia where we didn't play well and made so many mistakes."

Against Namibia, Bafana was held 0-0 in a match they expected to win against a side ranked 114 by Fifa.

After facing Eswatini on Friday, Broos and his men fly to Abidjan to take on 2023 Afcon hosts Ivory Coast in another friendly match on Tuesday.

"The other game against Ivory Coast is different," said the Belgian trainer.

"It's more towards Afcon. We play against a very strong team. They are playing at home so the environment of the game will be a fantastic atmosphere and a good team.

"Again, I'm happy with the two opponents of this camp. Ivory Coast are the performers and I hope we will have a good and positive result."

Since losing 2-1 away to Morocco in a 2023 Afcon qualifier in June 2022, Broos has never lost a match while in charge of Bafana.