The nation is divided down the middle, with many Bafana Bafana followers questioning whether national team coach Hugo Broos is the real McCoy and on the right path when he scathingly points to the lack of quality players in South African football in general, and the quality of his Bafana players, in particular.
What rubs the people admonishing Broos the wrong way is, he often condemns the very players he drafts into his squad.
A case in point was when the Belgian tactician berated the performance of some of his players following the 1-0 win secured against Botswana’s Zebras in a friendly on Tuesday.
His detractors, happening to be in the majority, didn’t spare him, asking what business does he have to be working in South Africa when his job is to right the wrongs of South African football and stop moaning about the quality of players in the country that pays him a hefty
salary every month.
Also at the centre of the argument of many who view Broos as a spoilsport was his refusal to call up Mamelodi Sundowns on-form midfielder Themba Zwane and a string of other “older” players until “Mshishi the maestro” netted a brace against Sierra Leone on their way to a 4-0 victory in the first friendly last Saturday.
For the first time since Broos took over the Bafana reins, he had to swallow his pride, admitting he made a mistake by not calling up Zwane and others sooner because of his “trust in youngsters to do the job” and not in the “tried and tested” players.
In comes the issue of Broos’ frosty relationship with the PSL, its clubs and the club coaches going back from the time he took the national team over. Broos is not even conversant with the politics between Safa and the PSL bedevilling and retrogressing our football for years.
It’s crunch time for Broos. Bafana are due to face Liberia in back-to-back matches in March next year as part of the qualifications for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast and as Bafana will not be at the World Cup in Qatar, he needs all the time in the world to prepare for the two matches.
Fortunately for him, the training camp he so desperately needs has been secured.
Now he will be able to keep the momentum of having the players in good shape until March. He will have no business to have excuses if we fail to qualify for Afcon 2023.
Shut the hell up and do the job at hand. You were let off the hook when Safa’s “mandate” was not to immediately take us to Qatar 2022 but to Afcon 2023.
Lucky you to be given the softer option.
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