Broos: less talk, more action, please

HUGO Broos has been the Bafana Bafana coach for just over a year, but the silver-haired Belgian has done more talking off the pitch than on the field.

“I was very surprised that people were blaming me for disrespecting the nation. I just said what I felt at that moment. And I said what I said,” he said.

“I know now that in future I will think twice before I say things like that. I see that it’s not really accepted if a foreigner says some things (unlikeable).

“I read articles in the press of South Africans who said exactly the same thing as I said and there was no reaction. I will do it a bit differently than before.”

Broos made this admission while announcing his 23-man squad for coming friendlies against Sierra Leone and Botswana.

His past comments included saying SA soccer was behind in terms of development, and SA needs to up its structures to compete against the best nations.

That might have been a sober statement, given his reputation of being open-minded with the public, but he’s controversial.

Broos initial strategy had been about finding hungry young players, and of paying less attention to the seniors, despite their form and history with Bafana.

But didn’t he go back on his word, calling up Themba Zwane, 33, whom he had said was too old to fit in his team as he wanted a younger attacker?

His reason for calling Zwane up was odd, saying “only fools do not change their minds”. But again, he refused to talk about Andile Jali’s omission.

In his refusal to explain that, he touched on how “I don’t want to disrespect the nation”. How does calling up a player who’s been on form disrespect SA?

I mean, Broos has failed to live up to his billing since taking over the reins at Bafana last year. We are not going to the coming World Cup, remember”

Our spot in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations is also not guaranteed, despite the banning of Zimbabwe, as Group G is a three-horse race with Morocco and Liberia.

But instead of making sure that we get our house in order, we’ve decided to play friendlies against Sierra Leone and Botswana. And this is why:

“We have to gain confidence again after three defeats against Ghana, France and Morocco. There was a lot of criticism around this team and me,” he said.

Broos has to start thinking of working with existing combinations. He said theress division between the mother body and its special member, the PSL.

So why doesn’t he implement that and call up players that understand each other at club level? Broos should do more talking on the pitch.