Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has sung praises for his assistant Helman Mkhalele, saying that the SA football legend is the brains behind the success of the national team.
Broos did not want to take all the credit for the team’s success, and according to him, the former Bafana and Orlando Pirates flying winger is one of the unsung heroes in the team, who contributed immensely to Bafana’s upsurge, which resulted in the team winning bronze and alsocharming the African continent.
“Helman knows SA football two times better than I do. When I started as a coach here, I needed to get players for a friendly game – Helman chose the team because I did not know who I had to take,” Broos revealed.
“And from that moment on, we went to many PSL games, and after three to four months, I was able to know the teams and the players. What was important for me was the inside information from Helman.
“I do not want an assistant who is there and only gives exercises during training, and for the rest of the time he closes his mouth. He is a coach, but at the end, I make the decisions because I am the head coach.
“I am so happy with him and don’t need another assistant. It’s also the way he thinks about life, I just love him. I love that guy, if someone says something bad about him, I think I will kill him. It’s true, he is a fantastic guy. I have daily contact with him; we are always watching games, and it’s not only about football; we have become friends; he’s not only my assistant,” Broos added.
Broos explained that with Mkhalele, he is working with someone he can trust. “The moment my assistant (Cedor Janevski) left us, I told Safa I did not want another assistant because Helman was perfect. Also, he has a different view of football. So, we are on the same level, and that makes working with him so nice.
“It was difficult for him because in SA, an assistant coach is only an assistant, rather than a coach. When we make a team, we make it together. Like against Nigeria, we played with three central defenders, it’s not something I decided alone, no – we spoke about how we were going to solve that problem and he told me, ‘coach I think we have to do this and that’ – and I followed him,” Broos said.
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