Coach laments Safa’s lack of scouting
‘No capacity to track players’
It looks like Hugo Broos may once again find himself on the wrong side of top brass at Safa after he said his employers don’t have an organisational structure to scout domestic and international-based players.
In June, the Bafana Bafana coach was forced to issue an apology to the nation after he criticised the standard of players in SA and its top-flight league the DStv Premiership.
During Bafana’s squad announcement yesterday at the SABC studios, Broos was quizzed on available measures to monitor players who are based abroad so they have a fair chance for selection.
Broos hinted that Safa did not have the capacity to keep tabs on players playing locally and abroad.
“For that to happen you need 35 people who will go around Europe and see all those players. So, what’s the difference between seeing games live and on the laptop? It’s not possible, you can’t do it, it costs a lot of money and costs a lot of people,” said Broos.
“Scouting players needs an organisation, and for the moment we don’t have it in Safa. I read an article in the newspaper when I was coming back from Durban [MTN8 final] saying that the scouting here in South Africa is very poor, I didn’t say that, it was in the paper,” he said.
Asked what needs improvement, Broos refused to talk as he did not want to be in trouble with “those guys”.
“I will not repeat that again, otherwise those guys will say I disrespect the nation again. It’s unbelievable and then 14 days later you read that a former player has said the same thing and there’s no reaction, tell me why,” said Broos.
From the 23-man squad selected for the matches against Angola and Mozambique, only five players play abroad. Broos said the door was not closed for players Lebogang Mothiba and Kobamelo Kodisang who play overseas.