Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos will have a nice headache to deal with when he returns for what will be a mouthwatering 2025 for the SA senior national team.
Broos is in Belgium on holiday, probably playing kick-and-giggle and shooting hoops with the grandkids.
The man who once thought that pap was a dessert when he first landed in Mzansi, really needed that breather before a hectic, football calendar gets underway in March.
Under the grey-haired Belgian genius, Bafana have had a pleasant metamorphosis, and they are no longer the laughing stock of the continent. They are no longer pap at all, so to speak.
In years gone by, the team would be called all sorts of names, either failing to qualify for the Fifa World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations.
If they did ever qualify for Afcon, it would have been by the skin of their teeth, and go on to be knocked out in the first round – it had become the norm.
Under the Silver Fox, Bafana are a lean and mean machine, they are even touted among the favourites to lift the trophy in Morocco in December.
Broos had to give the squad an overhaul. He made an unpopular decision and started a bonfire from the heap of deadwood in Thulani Serero, Kamogelo Mokotjo, Itumeleng Khune, Sibusiso “Vila” Vilakazi, Andile Jali, Sifiso Hlanti and skipper Thulani “Tyson” Hlatshwayo.
The mentor was mocked when he had the likes of Ethan Brooks and Nyiko Mobbie in his initial squad, leaving out the likes of Themba “Mshishi” Zwane because of age.
The new players worked twice as hard for the coach and notched up some impressive results, including in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, where they were rather cheated via a dubious penalty in the last match against Ghana in the Cape Coast.
Broos later swallowed his pride and included Mshishi and other experienced players and got Bafana to a third-place finish in the 2023 Afcon in Ivory Coast.
They even shocked the world when they knocked out Morocco, the first African country to reach the semi-final of a Fifa World Cup.
The SA team is made up of the likes of Teboho Mokoena, Ronwen Williams, Evidence Makgopa, Mothobi Mvala, Sphephelo “Yaya” Sithole, Oswin Apollis, Khuliso Mudau, Aubrey Modiba, Grant Kekana, Nkosinathi Sibisi, Mothusi Aubaas, Thapelo Morena and Veli Mothwa to mention but a few – and now, that’s where the nice headache comes into play.
Broos will have to come up with a plan to integrate new players who have been smoking hot in the PSL. In recent months, we have seen the rise of Kaizer Chiefs’ Mduduzi Shabalala and Wandile Duba, the Buccaneers’ trio of Deano van Rooyen, Mohau Nkota, Thabiso Sesane, Stellenbosch FC’s Devon Titus and Jaylin Adams and Mamelodi Sundowns’ Malibongwe Khoza.
These players, and a couple of others who are having a fantastic season, cannot be ignored further and they really knocking on the door.
This is happening while Broos and his assistant Helman Mkhalele are still trying to fit in the likes of Relebohile Mofokeng, and Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi and Thalente Mbatha into the starting line-up.
While I would not want to be in Broos’ shoes, this is a pleasant problem to have, rather than sitting, scratching your head and having no mat.
