Hugo Broos’ uncanny ability to rub South Africans up the wrong way knows no bounds. When it comes to ties between the Belgian Silver Fox and football-loving folk in the country, the relationship is so tense it would leave a snake and a mongoose green with envy.
He is a polarising figure, is Broos, is he not? There’s simply no middle ground with him. His five years in charge of Bafana Bafana are littered with a catalogue of complaints that almost always cut the nation down, triggering outrage among either friend or foe.
It has been a drama-filled journey, driven by on-the-field highs and off-the-field lows.
His lows are owing to the barbs that roll off his acerbic tongue with ease. Broos got a rude awakening when his rebuke of Mbekezeli Mbokazi, saying “he’s a black guy, but he will come out of my room as a white guy”, ignited national indignation. It led to the United Democratic Movement reporting him to the South African Human Rights Commission for a racially-suggestive comment.
Though he apologised for the severe reprimand, explaining that he meant the defender would leave the room shaken and pale from a severe reprimanding, the controversial remark cut deep in a nation battling a racially sensitive past.
Persona non grata
To some aggrieved Kaizer Chiefs supporters, the national team coach is persona non grata. All because they perceive him to have an axe to grind with their beloved club by excluding their players from selection.
This week’s omission of gloveman Brendon Petersen increased the anti-Broos sentiment. The goalkeeper’s axing from the 26-man World Cup-bound squad — along with five other players — sparked a social media storm. Users and callers to radio stations expressed outrage at the humiliating treatment of the six.
These developments distracted us from the fantastic fact that Bafana are going to the World Cup for the first time in donkey’s years. This is the moment the nation has been waiting for, seeing South Africa lining up against the best nations in the world, after missing out on Germany 2006, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
Of course, we were there in 2010, only because we punched the ticket as hosts.
Broos has brought us back in on merit.
A farewell match on Friday against Nicaragua, who are ranked 131st, ended goalless, with some spectators at the Orlando Amstel Arena booing striker Lyle Foster for missing a spot kick, but the crowd cheered the players post-match.
Fourth appearance
The mood was more upbeat at the Wanderers cricket ground and so was the music concert that was the final farewell before Broos and his boys fly out to Mexico, where they will begin their fourth appearance at the global spectacle on June 11 against the Mexicans.
Despite our misgivings, now is the time to fully support the team that sweated blood to return to the global stage and had to overcome an administrative own-goal that threatened to derail their hard toil when Bafana were docked three points for fielding a suspended Teboho Mokoena.
One element that reconciles Broos’s detractors and supporters is his success in bringing Bafana back to life, leading them to the promised land of the World Cup which had been uncharted territory for 24 years
Despite our misgivings, now is the time to fully support the team that sweated blood to return to the global stage and had to overcome an administrative own-goal that threatened to derail their hard toil when Bafana were docked three points for fielding a suspended Teboho Mokoena.
Coaching, as Broos can attest, is both a thankless and gratifying job. A thankless occupation filled with vicious vilification when the chips are down and a gratifying position when a victory is attained.
Our victory is that we are back among the big boys because Broos has without doubt put in a solid shift with the team and laid a firm foundation for a successor who will inherit a raft of players who can take the team forward.
Successor because the 74-year-old mentor, who played as a 34-year-old centre-back in the semifinals with Belgium at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, returns to bring the curtain down on a coaching career that includes Africa Cup of Nations gold and bronze medals with Cameroon and South Africa.
As he travels on the road to retirement, he will look at the rearview mirror with contentment at a last chapter with a South Africa he revived from the ruins of dirt and restored to dignity.
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