Hands off Hugo Broos, fickle Bafana Bafana fans
Despite Bafana Bafana’s disappointing Africa Cup of Nations campaign, fans should consider Hugo Broos’s impressive record, including qualifying South Africa for their first Fifa World Cup since 2002, before calling for his dismissal. Picture: BackpagePix
Image: Backpagepix
If you’re one of the many voices calling for Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos to be fired, you’re simply mad.
There, I said it.
Yes, Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) campaign was a failure. Crashing out in the first knockout round is just not good enough.
There’s a big caveat though, and that is that 2026 is a Fifa World Cup year and Bafana should be judged accordingly.
Hugo Broos’s Legacy and Bafana’s Struggles at Afcon
At 73, Broos will likely not be around after the World Cup anyway.
But back to Afcon. Bafana had their problems. They conceded in every game they played, which was just the four as they lost to Cameroon in the Round of 16 over the weekend in Morocco.
Their two wins over smaller nations, Angola (2-1) and Zimbabwe (3-2), were far from convincing.
Against Egypt, though, their performance was a little more debatable. Bafana looked threatening after The Pharaohs were reduced to 10 men, but they were unable to find an equaliser as Egypt ran out 1-0 victors through a Mohamed Salah penalty.
It was a different story against Cameroon, as Bafana dominated the opening exchanges but came away empty-handed. Before they knew it, Bafana were 2-0 down and only grabbed a consolation goal near the end of the contest to make the scoreline more respectable.
Bafana Fans Overlook Broos’ Impressive Record Amid Recent Performance Concerns
It seems, though, the fickle Bafana fans are not looking at the bigger picture at all. All they saw was Bafana turn in an under-par performance against Cameroon, so now Broos must just be a matter of months before the biggest football event on the globe.
I would hazard a guess that these same fans are not taking into account the overall record of Broos, which reads 53 games, 26 wins, 19 draws, and eight defeats.
Add in that Broos helped South Africa qualify for their first Fifa World Cup since 2002, and that points to a man who deserves a little more respect from Mzansi.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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