The inquest has started as the fallout gains momentum from Bafana Bafana’s disappointing elimination from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at the last 16 stage on Sunday. Bafana being dumped out of the tournament by Cameroonin a 2-1 defeatin Rabat on Sunday night has left more questions than answers, and coach Hugo Broos haspromised a thorough evaluationof what went wrong in Morocco. There are those who are calling for the coach to be fired, but that is a notion that would not be ideal given that the 2026 Fifa World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada in June and July is less than six months away.
Firing Broos now would only make things worse because there is hardly any time before the March friendly matches and the World Cup in June for a new coach to come in and be successful. Hugo Broos to do a thorough evaluation of what went wrong at Afcon.WATCH full press conference ➡️➡️➡️https://t.co/Intkn09It5pic.twitter.com/cOTLmW9UzE There are those who have apportioned blame on some members of the backroom staff for not providing the necessary high-level support to the team to function better. When Brooscomplained the team trained 45 minutes away from their hotelin Rabat last week leading up to the Cameroon match, the Confederation of African Football responded by saying Bafana’s team management had had the opportunity to make changes to their schedule and did not.
Some have questioned whether the squad is strong enough to compete at this elite level, where opposition teams have quality players turning out at a high level for clubs around the world. Just by looking at the Cameroon XI that started on Sunday, it stands out that one player is based in Africa and the rest are with teams like Stoke City in England, FC Lorient and AJ Auxerre in France, Brighton & Hove and Albion and Manchester United in England, and Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. Bafana finished third in the Ivory Coast early in 2024 with a team largely made up of locally based players, but there is no denying the value of having the bulk of your team playing for top clubs around the world.
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Disappointed Hugo Broos reflects on Afcon elimination after loss to Cameroon.pic.twitter.com/C8g9mQHf4V South Africa has a number of players abroad but we don’t survey or use enough of those. In Bafana’s starting line-up on Sunday night, only Siyabonga Ngezana of FCSB in Romania, Samukele Kabini of Molde FK in Norway and Lyle Foster of Burnley in England were based abroad.
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