Bafana Bafana mentor Hugo Broos is a good coach. A great one, even. That is an undisputable fact.
No one can take away what he has done for our national team. As football fans and supporters, we may not always agree with his selections, but the players he has backed have largely delivered. Results, after all, remain football’s ultimate currency — and Broos has cashed in.
Before his appointment, Bafana Bafana were uninspiring. Many South Africans had emotionally checked out of the senior men’s national team. Watching them felt more like an obligation than a joy.
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Under his stewardship, Bafana have evolved from what former sport, arts and culture minister Fikile Mbalula once infamously described as “a bunch of useless individuals” into a cohesive, committed unit that plays with belief and pride. The numbers tell their own story. When the Belgian arrived, Bafana were ranked 71st in the world and 13th in Africa.
Nearly five years on, they sit at 61st globally and 11th on the continent. More importantly, there has been tangible success. A bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast in 2023, achieved while playing brave, enterprising and exciting football.
Bafana Bafana have also qualified for Afcon in Morocco where Broos’s men are among the favourites. The senior men’steam also qualified for the Fifa World Cup in North America — something Bafana last achieved in 2002 as in 2010 we qualified by virtue of being the host nation. For all this, Broos has rightly received his flowers. Plus, this is what he was hired to do, and he has been handsomely paid for doing his job.
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