FIRST TAKE | Bafana, the movie: LA-bound Broos and the Boys write script fit for Hollywood

Bafana Bafana wrote a script fit for Hollywood when they rose from a poor showing in their opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup to make history by advancing to the knockout stage of the global showpiece for the first time. That’s fitting, as up next is a trip to Los Angeles where they will face Canada in the round of 32, writes Njabulo Ngidi.

At Monterrey Stadium

Bafana Bafana are going to Los Angeles after writing a script that would make Hollywood proud.

The South African men’s senior national football team completed a dramatic turnaround reminiscent of the sport fairytale movies that Hollywood regularly churns out.

Bafana’s story, as in those movies, started with a hero whose glory days are behind them, but there is enough spark in the tank to capture the imagination once again.

Hugo Broos, the 74-year-old Bafana coach, plays the sage old trainer in this epic. Think Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby.

RECAP | Bafana make history, qualify for World Cup knockouts as SA poised to celebrate 

Broos almost quit coaching Bafana after a testing first year in the job. Politics and just how low the team was - South Africans had long since turned their backs on them - hit him smack in the face.

However, the Belgian saw a glimmer of hope in the resilience that the team showed when they buckled down to rise from the depths of despair to the podium of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

In movie speak, that rise would be the set-up. The confrontation came in the opening match of this year’s FIFA World Cup when the team froze against co-hosts Mexico to lose 2-0 at Azteca Stadium.

Bafana produced a pitiful and uninspiring performance, and many South Africans were expecting them home soon after finishing their mandatory group