South Africa head coach Hugo Broos on Monday called on his players to look forward to their adventure at the 2026 World Cup in the summer following their defeat to Cameroon in the last-16 at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Cameroon beat Broos' side 2-1 on Sunday night at the Stade Al Barid in Rabat, Morocco.
Junior Tchamadeu opened the scoring for Cameroon after 34 minutes. Christian Kofane doubled the advantage soon after the restart.
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Though Evidence Makgopa halved the deficit in the 88th minute, South Africa could not find the equaliser in six minutes of second-half stoppage-time to force extra-time.
"In the next days and weeks we will make an evaluation in detail on what was good and not good," said Broos who steered Cameroon to the Cup of Nations crown in 2017.
"And we will see what we have to change for the World Cup and we need to be ready for that."
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South Africa went into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations among the favourites for the title having topped a 2026 World Cup qualifiying group that included Nigeria, Rwanda, Benin, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.
After dispatching Angola in Marrakesh in their opening game at the Cup of Nations, South Africa lost to Egypt in Agadir and overcame Zimbabwe 3-2 in Marrakesh to advance to the knockout stages as Group B runners-up behind Egypt.
Cameroon finished second behind defending champions Côte d'Ivoire following two wins and a draw in Group F.
"Sometimes you need luck on your side," said Broos. "Two years ago in the quarter-final against Cape Verde our goalkeeper made a big save, otherwise we could have lost that game.
"We didn't have luck on our side against Cameroon," added the 73-year-old Belgian who took South Africa to third place at the 2023 Cup of Nations in Côte d'Ivoire.
"We are not going backwards but we do have to make a good evaluation of what happened here at this tournament.
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South Africa, who qualified for the World Cup for the first time since hosting the tournament in 2010, will face co-hosts Mexico in the opening game on 11 June before taking on South Korea and a European play-off winner in the group phase.
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Following Sunday night's success, Cameroon move on to a quarter-final showdown on 9 January with hosts Morocco who came through their game against Tanzania 1-0 at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
Skipper Achraf Hakimi featured in the starting line-up for the first time at the tournament.
And the 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain star laid on the pass for Brahim Diaz to strike the only goal of the game after 64 minutes.
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"I'd like to congratulate my players for reaching the quarter-finals," said Morocco coach Walid Regragui who led the squad to the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
"We started the game against Tanzania in the second-half after a first 45 minutes in which there were far too many instances of poor control and choices.
"We got our act together and played with more incisiveness. We should have scored earlier but the goal arrived at the right moment."
