Broos is able to defy logic
Trying to figure out Hugo Broos’ direction with Bafana Bafana is as perplexing and frustrating as Eskom’s load shedding.
Broos hit the right chords and had us all singing in unison when he first arrived. He spoke of changing things and calling young players up at Bafana.
He spoke well about developing players who still hunger for success and complemented his talk with his first team selection.
He, unlike his predecessors, scouted the entire PSL top-flight teams for players. He came up with the likes of Ethan Brooks, who was at TS Galaxy then, and other youngsters.
Broos came under criticism when he ignored experienced campaigners like Andile Jali and Themba Zwane when Bafana needed them for crucial World Cup qualifiers.
He remained adamant that he was building. Well, I appreciated that because Jali and others could have helped us through and perhaps qualified us for the World Cup, but then what after that?
We needed these youngsters to fail so they could learn. They indeed failed in Ghana. And that is when Broos lost me. Instead of accepting the loss and ensuring his young players took the lessons, he agreed with Safa and blamed it on everything but themselves.
The referee was the main culprit and they even held a media conference where they had the young players crying crocodile tears confessing how hurt they were. They escaped taking responsibility and so I don’t think they learnt anything.
All they took from that is that Safa and Broos will always have their back, they will always protect them from criticism and from taking responsibility for their failures.
And now again Bafana are in camp for two friendly matches against lower-ranked opposition: Sierra Leone and Botswana. These games are for Bafana to get their confidence back.
But guess what? Broos has called up Zwane. He may explain it to me even in my home language if he wants to, but I will never understand.
What have Bafana got to benefit from Zwane in these games? They are, after all, just friendly games organised to lift the spirits at Bafana after the defeats to France and Morocco.