There was a silly debate raging on this past week on whether coach Hugo Broos is the best Bafana Bafana coach ever. The discussion came in the wake of the aged mentor’s young guns harvest of four points after the convincing 3-0 win over Lesotho and the 1-1 draw against a desperate and physical Nigeria a few days later in the quest to qualify for the next Fifa World Cup.
This week’s outcomes have put SA in the right groove to qualify for its first World Cup since 2002 in Korea-Japan. In 2010, South Africa qualified by virtue of being World Cup hosts.
You see, with the advent of social media, every Jabu, Oupa and Amukelani have now gradua-ted to football expert levels. Just because they have a smartphone, data and a big- ass smart TV, they are now the self-proclaimed voices of reason.
They are already exchanging and trading verbal bombs and expletives as to how Broos has surpassed all his predecessors, including the legendary Clive “The Dog” Barker, the only coach to have led Bafana to some silverware – the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations gold medal.
Barker sadly passed away in 2023 after a long illness and he is sitting among good company with SA diski ancestors and illuminati in heaven. May his soul rest in peace and glory!
The test whether Broos is best placed to shatter Barker’s legacy will happen at the 2025 Afcon in Morocco in December. After struggling for many years to do so, Bafana qualified for Afcon at a canter. In fact it seemed like a walk in the park as they booked their ticket with a few games to spare.
In the last decade, it had rather become a mission impossible for Bafana to qualify for Afcon, as they missed out and watched a few tournaments on TV – they had turned into a laughing stock and a butt of all jokes on the continent and from the other sporting codes in SA.
It is premature and unfair to compare Barker and Broos. There is no shadow of a doubt that Broos has definitely taken South African football out of the woods.
He may be still in the process of building but the pride is back, the respect is earned yet again and the fearsome aura has returned in abundance. Bafana are a powerhouse once again and they are on the verge of booking a spot among the sport’s great nations in the US, Mexi-co and Canada, the co-hosts.
When Broos took over, he was misunderstood and was castigated when he spewed the painful truth that the two-faced SA football followers did not want to hear. He questioned the absence of SA players in European leagues, he said the PSL was not good enough and lamented the fact Bafana players were not known in the world like West African players.
He then stuck to a band of unfashionable players such as Nyi-ko Mobbie, Veli Mothwa, Sphe-phele Sithole, Ethan Brooks and others – the supporters wanted him out, players such as Kermit Erasmus were offended. Only if they could accept the truth and see the bigger picture.
But everyone can see the light now, the stadiums, which used to be as populated as the Big Hole during Bafana games, are now often packed to capacity with vociferous supporty.
Broos is definitely onto something here, and let’s wait and see how his team fares in Morocco, and maybe we can go back to that silly debate afterwards. It’s just a great pity Broos mentioned that he won’t be coaching SA beyond the World Cup…
