Disgraced Bafana coach Broos forced to apologise but keeps his job... for now

Disgraced Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has apologised for his outrageous behaviour in the wake of Bafana Bafana’s appalling 2-2 draw against Liberia at the Orlando Stadium on Friday.

The result left South Africa in a precarious position to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, as only victory against Liberia in Monrovia on Tuesday will guarantee Bafana a spot at the delayed finals in Ivory Coast early next year.

The apology came after Broos met the South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan at the team’s hotel in Johannesburg yesterday morning where he was ordered to explain his behaviour.

This follows the Belgian’s decision to storm off the pitch before full time after 150th-ranked Liberia had equalised in the dying minutes of a game that Bafana had led 2-0 at the break.

Broos also chose not to appear for a post-match interview with Bafana’s official broadcaster, the SABC, and had to be forced to address the media after sending his assistant Hellman Mkhalele.

“I did not fulfil my media obligations and I want to apologise for that. But I’m a human being and emotions took control over me. I know from experience that it is better not to say anything in the heat of the moment — and that’s what I did,” Broos said in a statement yesterday afternoon.

This is not first time the 70-year-old coach has had to apologise for an outburst. He did the same in June last year after he had criticised the standard of football in the local Premier Soccer League.

Broos’ future with Bafana will immediately become untenable if the team loses on Tuesday when they play Liberia on an artificial pitch at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex. Already, some Safa national executive committee (NEC) members are calling for his head for the way he handled himself on Friday.

I know from experience that it is better not to say anything in the heat of the moment and that’s what I did
— Hugo Broos, Bafana Bafana coach

“You’re the commander in chief, yet you have the audacity to leave your troops right when they’re under fire? That’s what Broos did and for me it’s enough for the association to fire him,” an incensed Safa NEC member told the Sunday Times on Saturday.

“How is he going to find strength to stand in front of the same players that he chose to abandon during the match on Friday? The bottom line is that the coach has brought the whole association into disrepute and if Caf [Confederation of African Football] fines Safa [for his failure to properly address the media after the game] he must pay for it out of his own salary.”.

Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe confirmed on Saturday that Broos, whose six-year contract with Safa runs until July 2026, will travel with the team on Sunday and if there’s “something else to address with him, it will be done after the game on Tuesday”.

Broos insinuated in his statement that he had spoken to his players and reassured them of his commitment to the team. “They must not believe that because I was frustrated, angry and disappointed yesterday... I don’t believe in the team,” he said.

The Bafana coach was, however, not the only one to blame for Friday’s result. The players, including seasoned attacker Percy Tau, were awful with their decision-making in the final third of the match.

Most of Bafana’s attackers either missed their chances or chose the option to shoot when there were players better positioned to score, especially when they were leading 2-0.

Bafana created 17 goal-scoring opportunities, but were wasteful as only six hit the target — two of them netted by striker Lyle Foster.

That the selfishness continued in the second-half points to Broos’s failure to instruct his players to play as a team in order keep their lead.

His substitutes also left a lot to be desired, as players like Monnapule Saleng and Cassius Mailula made little impact after coming on just after Liberia had reduced the deficit.

While there was little the dependable Bafana skipper Ronwen Williams could do about Mohammed Sangare’s ripper from just outside the area in the referee’s optional time, the Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper could have better organised his defence in order to block Tonia Tisdell’s free kick in the 68th minute.

You’re the commander in chief, yet you have the audacity to leave your troops right when they’re under fire? That’s what Broos did and for me it’s enough for the association to fire him
— Safa NEC member

Liberia’s coach Ansumana Keita, handling the team for the first time after being promoted from being his country’s Under-17 coach, issued a strong warning to Bafana ahead of Tuesday’s game, saying his team would make life difficult for the South Africans.

“We’ll make Bafana suffer. For two or three years we’ve not played at home and Liberians are hungry. Before 8am or 9am the stadium will be packed already,” said Keita.

Bafana have performed poorly when playing on artificial pitches. They lost 2-1 to Cape Verde in Praia in September 2017 in a crunch World Cup qualifier and also played to a 0-0 draw against minnows Seychelles in Victoria in a 2019 Afcon qualifier in October 2018.

WHAT BAFANA NEED TO DO QUALIFY FOR AFCON 2023

If Bafana Bafana win against Liberia on Tuesday they will qualify.
Any high scoring draw from 2-2 up will leave South Africa ahead of Liberia on the log going into the final match against Morocco. But a 0-0 or 1-1 draw will put Liberia second on the log. The outcomes of SA versus Morocco and Liberia against Morocco could determine who qualifies.
If Bafana lose to Liberia on Tuesday they will be ruled out, even if they were to go on to beat Morocco. The Caf competition rules state that when two teams are level on points, their head-to-head results count first.