SO now the beleaguered Bafana Bafana soccer team is in the hands of the 69-year-old Belgian, Hugo Broos.
As expected there were some boos for Broos when he was announced as the new coach of our nation team.
Former Bafana star, Benni McCarthy, was also in the running for the position and was the choice of patriotic fans, who felt a home-grown coach would be in a better position to get the team on track.
The South African Football Association (SAFA) has shown their liking for European coaches in the past and it was not a surprise that they went for Broos, 26 years older than McCarthy.
What is surprising is that Broos has been given a contract for five years. Let’s see if he can stick it out for that long in the SAFA environment, which can be rather unstable, at the best of times.
Broos is supposed to fix Bafana Bafana’s problems so that South Africa can qualify to play in a World Cup tournament again.
That will be no easy task and it reminds me a bit of West Indian, Ottis Gibson’s, appointment when his mission was to win the World Cup with the Proteas. We all know how that ended.
If the manner in which Broos was announced as the coach is anything to go by, Bafana can forget about playing in the World Cup.
The unveiling of the coach through a Zoom link turned into a chaotic press conference – just plain unprofessional of SAFA.
Let’s give Broos a chance to prove what he can do though. There is no doubt he is an experienced coach and he has some knowledge of African soccer.
Oh, and he can speak English, something that SAFA officials were very proud to point out.
It will be interesting to see who will be in the technical team to support Broos.
To be a successful professional coach in the modern sports arena it is of the utmost importance to surround oneself with the best possible assistants.
Not all coaches have the ability to pick the right personnel to help them. Let’s just hope Broos gets it right.
There is a feeling among some soccer fundis that the best coach in the world, which Broos probably is not, won’t be able to get Bafana winning matches on a regular basis.
This is because they feel that South African soccer has problems at grassroots level.
The appointment of Broos is an effort to quickly fix the problems at the top level.
It is also an expensive exercise and maybe that money could have been put to better use in trying to better the structures at ground level.
Some of the so-called top sports schools can do a lot better when it comes to developing our soccer talent. We need them to come to the party.
