Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has reiterated that he is looking to lift the standards of his side and that is why he has asked for difficult friendly matches.

The South African national team narrowly missed out on qualification for the next stage of 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying after a positive start to life under Broos.

The Belgian coach has now reiterated that the South African side should be among the best on the continent, and he is looking to improve the quality of their opposition in order to push them forward.

Safa thus granted him his wishes with Bafana set to play Guinea in Belgium on Friday before facing France in Lille four days later.

Speaking to the Safa website in the buildup, Broos admitted that he sees these games as important clashes in his side’s development as his side will play in Europe for the first time since a friendly against Poland in Warsaw back in October 2012.

“I said it already when I came here [in May 2021] I did not understand why a country like South Africa was not always playing at the Afcon,” Broos said.

“I said it already, for me these are important games, difficult games, but I asked for difficult games. In the past, I am told, that it was not usual for South Africa to play tough friendly games,” the Belgium-born mentor added.

France have picked a strong squad as they will face Ivory Coast before hosting Bafana Bafana at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, which has a capacity crowd of nearly 50,000 spectators.