Broos names assistant, seeks local helping hand
• New Bafana coach is working with Safa to identify a South African assistant to join management team
New Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed that his assistant coach will be Macedonia-born Cedomir Janevski‚ the head coach of Olympiakos Nicosia in Cyprus.
Broos‚ who met the media at Safa House in Nasrec on Wednesday‚ said he is collaborating with the SA Football Association (Safa) technical committee to appoint an “important” SA assistant in the coming days.
Broos said Janevski, now a Belgian national who was a defender for Yugoslavia and Macedonia in the 1980s and 90s‚ will arrive in SA soon after Olympiakos meet Anorthosis Famagusta in the Cypriot Cup final on Saturday.
Broos also revealed that as he needs to have a second shot of his Covid-19 vaccine in Belgium on June 4‚ Janevski and the SA assistant will take charge of two friendlies due to be played in early June.
“My Belgian assistant is not here for the moment because he is still working in Cyprus. He stays with his team as he has a cup final‚” Broos said.
“After that he will be here with the SA assistant to coach those two games in June. We are looking for opponents, so, we will see which teams we will play.”
Broos said Janevski had lived in Belgium for 25 to 30 years. He played for Club Brugge and speaks English‚ French and Dutch‚ “so there will be no problem with languages”.
“There will be no problem with experience. He was the coach of Brugge nearly 20
years ago‚ won the cup with Brugge‚ was a coach in Greece‚ a coach of the national team of Macedonia.”
Broos said Janevski was a friend of his “so, I think the working together will be 100%”.
Janevski has been the head coach of a number of teams including Club Brugge‚ where he won the Belgian Cup in
2007; Red Star Belgrade (Serbia); Macedonia from 2012 to 2013; Mons (Belgium) and Ismaily (Egypt).
Broos said he and the Safa technical committee were “analysing” who the South African assistant will be and an announcement would be made in the coming days.
“Why I absolutely wanted a
South African [assistant] coach is he will be of great help to me in the first weeks and months because he knows South African football‚ he knows South African players.
“He knows the culture. He will help me a lot. Even if I have the experience of Africa with Cameroon‚ this is a different country with different things and culture.
“It’s not like the old-fashioned assistant who’s putting [out] the cones and then the head coach comes and does the training.
“I will not do much training because I think the most important thing in training is observing what’s happening. So they will have to work,” Broos said.
Bafana’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers have been postponed to September‚ which has left space for two friendlies in the
June Fifa international window. ● Broos said he was asked by Safa if he might take charge of the SA Under-23 team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in July and August‚ but made it clear he would not.
David Notoane’s Olympic team is now effectively an Under-24 side given the allowances in the rules of the men’s tournament due to their postponement by a year. Three overage players are also permitted per squad.
Broos said he told Safa that‚ out of respect for Notoane‚ who qualified the team to the Olympics as third-placed finishers at the 2019 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations‚ he would not take charge of the team in Tokyo.
“They asked me‚‘Coach‚ will you do that?’ I said‚‘No‚ I will not do that’.”