New Bafana coach Hugo Broos wants to use young blood
The Bafana Bafana old guard, especially the players over 30, can kiss their senior national team careers goodbye.
New Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos, 69, has made it clear in his first media conference that his primary task is to overhaul the squad by blooding more young players.
Broos replaces Molefi Ntseki, who was fired in March after Bafana failed to qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
“The information that I got in the last few weeks and the analysis that I made, I know it’s a moment to build a new team,” Broos said during a Zoom briefing from his country of birth, Belgium.
“I was a little bit surprised when I saw the selections of the last games that there are a lot of players over 30.”
Broos, who guided Cameroon to the 2017 Afcon glory, is of the view that older players lack enthusiasm and will to fight.
“I was once a player myself and when I was 30 the motivation and hunger was less.
“So I think we have to rebuild the team. We must have a younger team,” he said.
“Why a younger team? I will make an example of Cameroon, I did the same there.
“When you work with young players, you know that they’re motivated, they’re hungry to show something.”
Broos also gave a sense that qualifying for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar was not his mandate as he would still be restructuring the team for the 2023 Afcon in Ivory Coast and beyond.
The former KV Oostende mentor is expected to land in SA next week.
“SA haven’t qualified for Afcon next year, so this is a moment to start and rebuild a new team,” Broos said.
“They [the youthful team he promises] might have difficulties to qualify for the World Cup but they’ll be ready to play an important role a year later at Afcon, that’s the main goal. “It’s important for me to come to SA as soon as possible to have meetings with my SA assistant because he has all the information I need.”
SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan was reluctant to divulge the duration of Broos’s contract, saying only that the new coach’s technical panel would be revealed when he arrives in SA some time next week.
However, it is understood that Broos is on a five-year deal and will be assisted by SA U23 coach David Notoane.