I like fancy football, says Broos

NEW Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says he wants his team to win matches, while at the same time being pleasing on the eye.

It’s been more than two decades since Bafana won the Africa Cup of Nations. Their form has declined since as the closest they came was in the last edition after reaching the quarter-finals in Egypt under coach Stuart Baxter.

They failed to qualify for the

2022 showpiece, which cost coach Molefi Ntseki his job as he was sacked at the end of March.

Broos, 69, was not the primary candidate for the job as the SA Football Association wanted either Carlos Queiroz or Pitso Mosimane, but both declined.

Broos has a lofty billing on the continent after winning the Afcon title with Cameroon four years ago.

“I like fancy football, that’s my philosophy,” Broos told the national broadcaster yesterday after his arrival in the country on Monday night.

“We’ll not be playing in front of 60 000 spectators and just waiting for the ball. That’s not my style.

“We won’t rely on counterattacks, although sometimes you have to use it. But that won’t be the tactic. What’s important for me is the team, not a couple of individuals. I achieved that with Cameroon. We didn’t have the best team but we won the Afcon.”

Broos is under no pressure to hit the ground running after the Confederation of African Football decided to postpone the June World Cup qualifiers until September. Bafana are grouped with Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Ghana.

Ghana and Bafana met recently in Afcon qualifiers and the former took four points from the South Africans after a win and a draw.

But Broos is confident Bafana will have a plan for the Black Stars when they host them in September.

He’s expecting his soon-to-be named South African assistant to give him intel about the players. Ntseki was reported to be in line for the position but he officially left Safa last week.

“The plan is to have players for the next games in June. But I’ll need my South African assistant because he knows the players better than I do. Then we’ll take some decisions from that because that’s important,” said the Belgian mentor.