With Bafana Bafana having the destiny of their qualification to the World Cup qualifiers play-off round now in their hands with two games remaining in their group SAFA have thrown their weight behind the effort of Belgian gaffer Hugo Broos.
Just months into his new job which he took after Bafana failed to qualify for the AFCON finals, Broos has now revived the fortunes of the national team amid the challenges that he has had to deal with along the way.
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Top of Group H with three wins and one draw, there is a feeling of fresh air about Bafana Bafana considering how they have gone about duty under the Belgian gaffer.
Scroll through the gallery to see a selection of the best images from the fans' return to stadiums
"I would like to congratulate coach Hugo Broos for bringing back the excitement and renewed hope in our senior men's national team. While the job is not yet complete, garnering 10 points from 4 games is worth praising especially with this relatively young team," says Danny Jordaan, the SAFA president.
"We got the 6 points we needed from Ethiopia and now the next two games against Zimbabwe and Ghana will be quite interesting. Well done to the coach Broos, the entire team and technical staff," he adds on the statement issued on the mother body's website.
The SAFA president also added his voice about the return of fans to the stadium after Bafana played in front of 2000 fans in their 1-0 win over Ethiopia last night following a two-year absence of fans due to the coronavirus.
SAFA are planning to apply to have an increased crowd for next months' home tie against neighbours Zimbabwe who is already out of contention for qualification.
"The spectators provided that missing link within the stadium and I would like to thank their discipline and the vibrancy they created once the match had started. We are going to send a proposal to the government to request that we increase the percentage of attendance for the home game against Zimbabwe next month.
"We passed the pilot project with flying colours, and we hope to improve the numbers going forward. As we initially projected, we want South Africans to get vaccinated so that we return to our daily lives. We want the medium business and informal sector that derives income from football to return and be able to benefit financially," says Jordaan.