After Bafana Bafana booked a place in the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast in January next year following their hard-fought 2-1 victory over Liberia on Tuesday, with a match to spare, coach Hugo Broos plans to use their last match against Morocco to start preparing the team for the tournament.

Bafana pulled off a 2-1 win, secured through goals from Zakhele Lepasa and Mihlali Mayambela, over Liberia at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia on Tuesday to secure their passage to the tournament.

They will host Morocco on June 12 and having already qualified, Broos was relieved as he will now go into that match without pressure.

"I'm very happy that we've qualified because if it was a draw we are playing in June and Liberia v Morocco is in September and with this programme anything can happen," Broos told Safa media after the match.

"It could be in June that Morocco is coming to SA with a good team and in September they already start with their preparations for Afcon and they have a team with less quality.

"So for us now it is a very good friendly game; even though it is a qualifier result, it is no longer important but we will try to prepare the team very well and be ready in January for Afcon in Ivory Coast."

Broos was also lost for words after the victory as he went into the game under pressure after their 2-2 draw at Orlando Stadium last Friday.

“It is difficult to express my feelings right now. I feel enormous happiness, there are 100 feelings going through my body at the moment,” he said.

“It was a very tough game. The style of Liberia is power play, long balls to the front, headers and powerful duels. Therefore we changed some players and brought those who are powerful like Innocent Maela and Sphephelo Sithole.

“I think it was good to do that. We scored the first goal but it was a bit unlucky that we conceded a goal from outside the 16m area.

“When we scored the second goal, Liberia didn’t look at anything any more, they just dropped the ball in the 18-area and hoped it fell on their feet. And when you see both games I think we deserved it.”

Broos also explained why he made five changes, with Maela replacing Aubrey Modiba, Nyiko Mobbie coming in for Themba Zwane, Sithole for Luke le Roux, and Mayambela for Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Lepasa coming in for Lyle Foster.

“It was not good on Friday because we didn’t have enough depth, when we lost the ball there was no immediate pressing. I knew Zakhele is a guy who runs for 90 minutes. 

“He scored a fantastic goal. He is very quick, he was always there for the whole game.

“And I have to say that Lyle Foster didn’t feel well this morning. We needed players who were 100% and I think the decision was right.”