South Africa coach Hugo Broos questioned the state of the pitch at Huye Stadium in Rwanda and asked how FIFA approved the Stadium to host international matches after Bafana Bafana were stunned 2-0 by the hosts in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.

Having drawn their opening Group C match 0-0 against Zimbabwe, Amavubi under new coach Torsten Spittler took the initiative to get their first win and they were rewarded with goals from Innocent Nshuti in the 12th minute and Gilbert Mugisha in the 28th minute to silence the visiting side.

South Africa were aiming to make it two wins out of two but according to coach Broos, they could not achieve what they wanted because of the waterlogged pitch especially in the first half.

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“When you see the first 20 minutes it’s unbelievable that a qualifier of a World Cup is played on such a pitch,” Broos said after the game, adding: “It’s impossible. But okay, it is what it is and I think FIFA has to be stricter on the rules where you going to play, we are talking about professional football, we’re talking about qualifiers of the biggest tournament [in the world], then you play on such a pitch.

“It’s not normal to arrive in a country and then travel three hours with a bus before you’re at the final destination – I will not say it’s the reason we lost the game, not at all but I think those things have to change, we’re in 2023.

“We’re talking about professional football and this pitch is not professional, and you don’t let an opponent travel three hours from an airport for their destination, this is only my remark, nothing to do with the defeat of today.”

The victory saw Rwanda move top of the group on four points, Bafana dropped to second on three points, Nigeria, who are winless from two matches, are third on two, Lesotho fourth on two, Zimbabwe fifth on two while Benin are last on one point.