Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says that South African football is not improving since he arrived in the country in 2021. Broos spoke as Bafana players today report for camp as they prepare for their important 2023 Africa Cup of Nations home and away qualifiers against Liberia.
The first match will be played on Friday night at the Orlando Stadium, with the return match in Monrovia, Liberia, on March 28. South Africa need the six points against Liberia to qualify after they lost their first group match against Morocco in Rabat last year.
With Zimbabwe suspended and banned from the qualifiers, two victories in the three-team group will see Broos’ charges book their tickets to the tournament. They will then wrap up their group against Morocco in SA in June.
“My assessment of SA football since I arrived is still the same. The level of PSL has not improved and it has to improve,” said Broos. “The proof is there – Mamelodi Sundowns have twice in a row been 20 points ahead. What are the other teams doing? I saw Sundowns playing with a second team against Stellenbosch FC and they could win – I can assure you that if a top team in Belgium is playing against a team in the middle of the table with a second team, they will never win.”
Broos, who won the Afcon with Cameroon in 2017, says things are calmer after a rather difficult start when he arrived in the country. “There was a lot of criticism from my colleagues and that really hurt me. I said some things in June last year, which made people angry but I had to say them, but it’s okay. There’s no battle anymore and we try to qualify SA for Afcon next year.
“Yes, I am confident we will qualify – I can feel it and when I see the games and the opponents we chose in September and November, they are better quality than Liberia.
“We were very convincing against Sierra Leone and also in the two tough games against Angola and Mozambique.
“The Botswana game was not so good because I put a completely new team and that is the reason why. So, those four games gave me the belief Bafana can qualify for Afcon. I pray that nobody will be injured and that all the 22 players we announced will be available next week.
“Sundowns have to play Al Hilal and they have eight players and it will be a tough game because Hilal want to win – so I am hoping that after the game I do not receive medical reports that certain players are injured.”
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