Losing Zwane to injury killed our rhythm – Broos

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos admitted that the injury to star player Themba Zwane complicated things for them as they could not maintain their rhythm during their 1-1 draw with Congo-Brazzaville in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at Alphonse Massamba-Debat on Tuesday.

Zwane was stretched off in the 40th minute when Bafana were leading 1-0 through Elias Mokwana's goal with an Achilles injury and was replaced by Patrick Maswanganyi.

The host equalised deep in stoppage time through Mons Bassouamina just before the halftime whistle as Bafana struggled without Zwane.

Broos has now confirmed that Zwane will be sidelined for several months, ruling him out for Bafana crucial qualifiers against Uganda and South Sudan next month, while he will also miss Mamelodi Sundowns key fixtures.

“Themba Zwane is a crucial player for us, so it was not good for us that he had to go out with an injury. It's a big Achilles injury, I'm afraid he will be out for months,” Broos told the media during the post-match press conference.

“When you lose such an important player it is difficult certainly in the game where you have been dominating. Themba is someone who can keep the ball, who can give the last pass.

“He was not there, maybe that was also why we didn't play so well today.”

Bafana headed into Group K needing a victory to qualify but could only play to a draw and Broos is not worried as they need a victory in their last two matches to book their place in Morocco in December next year.

“We still need victory, if we win against Uganda or South Sudan we will qualify,” he said. 

“Congo surprised us, we suffered a lot and we could not even find solutions to score and we are happy to draw the match.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Uganda, who are at the summit of the group, beat South Sudan 2-1 and Broos insists they didn't think about their result as they were focusing on winning against Congo.

“I didn't even talk about the results to my players. We had to focus on our game because we knew that it was not going to be a simple match and we knew that if we won here we would qualify.

“Unfortunately, we didn't win and that complicated our business.”

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