Brutally honest Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says some players who delivered an insipid performance against Botswana on Tuesday are likely not to play for the national team again, at least not under his guidance.
Bafana beat Botswana 1-0 in their friendly at FNB Stadium, thanks to the first half goal from Teboho Mokoena, but to say their performance was below par would be an understatement.
The display gave a perfect reason why the national team fails to draw decent crowds to stadiums. They played in front of pitifully poor crowds in their 4-0 friendly win against Sierra Leone, also at FNB on Saturday, and against Botwsana.
Bafana’s performance made watching paint dry seem like fun, and Broos did not sugarcoat anything in his post-match press conference. He fielded a different team to the side that crushed Sierra Leone, but he didn’t expect the performance to be that different.
“I’m happy with the victory. It was a goal for us to have two victories from this camp and we have them. There’s satisfaction and happiness [from that point of view],” Broos said after the match.
“On the other hand, I’m not happy with the performance today. This is not what we expected and I think it’s clear some players may not be good enough or not able to bring what we have to do at this level.
Broos, who landed himself in hot water previously for saying the standard of players emerging from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is not good enough, again questioned the level of the league.
“The PSL is something, but international games are tougher, quicker and different.
“I chose to have two teams to see what those teams could do and what the players could do, so again today I’m not happy with it, really not happy. But again we won and that is the most important thing.
“This game was very interesting for us, to see all those players who didn’t play so much in the past. We should take that into account for the next selection. It’s a pity for those players, but those players will not be with us in November.”
Broos intends to hold a training camp in November for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The coach felt the Zebras had a good game against his side and were the better team, but needed luck to return home as winners.
He felt vindicated for always pointing out that some players may be good enough for the PSL, but struggle to crack it in international football.
“There’s always a difference between local and international football. The difference is always there, but it doesn’t mean that if those players are coming to this level they can do it,” Broos said.
“I said it before and people get angry when I say in the PSL there are players who are good players for [PSL] competition, but when they get to a higher level it becomes a problem.
“It’s difficult for people to accept when I say that. I felt that already in the last month when I said something like that. Everybody was angry and saw it as disrespect for the nation or whatever.
“But I’ve been a coach for 35 years and I was a professional player for 17 years in Europe. I know what modern football is.”