South Africa coach Hugo Broos has told his players to “dream of the final” after their last-16 victory against 2023 Africa Cup of Nations favourites Morocco.
Evidence Makgopa and Teboho Mokoena scored the goals in a 2-0 win over the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists on Tuesday as the tournament in Ivory Coast delivered its latest upset.
Bafana Bafana will face Cape Verde in the quarter-finals on Saturday (20:00 GMT), having opened their campaign with a 2-0 defeat by Mali but then secured qualification from a group that saw 2004 champions Tunisia knocked out.
“The most important thing is that you can grow in a tournament, when you become better and better,” said Broos.
“It’s very good in a tournament that South Africa does it. We eliminated Tunisia. And we were ready to have the confrontation with Morocco.
“If you can win that, then the confidence is so big that we dream now of the final.”
Belgian coach Broos has experience of lifting the Afcon trophy himself, with the 71-year-old guiding Cameroon to the title in 2017.