Fury after Bafana coach barred from entering stadium

JOHANNESBURG. Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos, is an angry man after he was barred from watching the South African Premiership match, between Orlando Pirates against Mamelodi Sundowns at Orlando Stadium, on Saturday. Sundowns won the match 2-0. Broos postponed the final 23-man squad announcement from Saturday to yesterday in order to try and watch the DStv Premiership fixtures, before his final decision.

Sundowns secured an emphatic 2-0 win over the Soweto giants, in their backyard.

Broos, who was set to watch the match, was later seen watching the league match between SuperSport United and Maritzburg United.

And, he admitted it wasn’t by choice as he was barred from entering Orlando Stadium to watch the high-profile league encounter.

“I’m really upset, we would have liked to see the game between Pirates and Sundowns but they did not allow us to go in the stadium,” Broos said on SABC Sport yesterday.

“We couldn’t enter at three o’clock, we were not allowed to enter the stadium and we had an accreditation of the league.

‘’ They said ‘no this is not enough. When I let you in, I lose my job’. “I don’t understand that.

‘’ We are coaches of the national team, and there is a team (Pirates) who don’t allow us into the stadium to see a game of their team.

“The most surprising is that the chairman of the team (Irvin Khoza) is the vice-president of SAFA. I didn’t believe it, so we had to go back.

“My assistant was there, so I phoned him and said ‘come with us and come and see the game, SuperSport.’

‘’I couldn’t believe it. It is unacceptable, really unacceptable.”

Two weeks ago, Broos was also ignored by the PSL, after he expressed the desire to meet with PSL coaches.

He felt it was in the interest of all that he shared his thoughts on national team players.

He was told that such a meeting could not take place because of time constraints.

South Africa face Ethiopia, in back-to-back 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers next month, which could prove pivotal in their quest to secure a place in the play-offs for the global showpiece.

Yesterday, Broos confirmed he had trimmed his squad and left out 11 players, from the provisional squad he announced last week.

Injured talisman, Percy Tau, was not among the 23 players named to represent South Africa in next month’s double-header, against Ethiopia.

Last week, the 69-year-old Belgian announced a 34-man provisional squad.

Gift Links and Luther Singh were also omitted from the national squad.

South Africa are top of Group G, with four points from two games, following their goalless away draw to Zimbabwe before beating Ghana 1-0 at FNB Stadium, three days later.

With just four fixtures remaining, for this round of the qualifications, Bafana will now shift their focus to taking on the East Africans.

Broos and Bafana travel to Ethiopia on Saturday, 9 October, before welcoming the same opponents for the return leg at FNB Stadium on Monday, October 11. KickOff. com/ IOL