South Africa will chase a key win in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying campaign when they welcome Lesotho to the Peter Mokaba Stadium for a Group C match on Friday evening, with kick-off at 6pm CAT.

Bafana Bafana come into the match placed second in the group – level on seven points with surprise leaders Rwanda after four completed matchdays. They were last in action in this competition in June of last year, recording a 1-1 draw away to Nigeria, followed by a 3-0 home triumph over Zimbabwe.

Hugo Broos’s side will be confident of keeping up the momentum built in their successful Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign, which was wrapped up in November last year with back-to-back wins over Uganda (away) and South Sudan (home).

However, the Belgian coach has warned against underestimating their opponents: “These are very important games, very tough games, because don’t underestimate Lesotho, maybe not on quality but on mentality.

“It is a team that fights for 90 minutes for every metre and certainly when they play against South Africa, they will do one step more, I’m sure of it.”

Lesotho, meanwhile, are in fourth place in Group C – just two points off the lead – and have notably held Nigeria away from home and beaten Zimbabwe thus far.

Coach Leslie Notsi sees this clash as an opportunity for his team to make a major statement: “We’re saying, ‘look, as a small footballing country, here’s an opportunity to progress, to go in there, give it our all’. It’s an opportunity for our boys to improve, to get that international exposure, which I believe they cherish.

“Our previous results in these qualifiers have been very encouraging. We go in there knowing that it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to give our all.”

In head-to-head stats, South Africa and Lesotho have met in 13 matches across all competitions (including in the local-players-only African Nations Championship) since 1995. Bafana have claimed seven wins compared to three for Likuena, while three games have been drawn.

The teams last met in the COSAFA Cup in July 2021, with South Africa claiming a 4-0 win in a group stage match in Port Elizabeth – featuring a hat-trick from Victor Letsoalo.