Bafana Bafana better off than rivals despite Fifa setback, says Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos considers himself fortunate to have the squad he does compared to his counterparts in other countries.

Although he began the pre-Africa Cup of Nations finals camp without four European-based players, South Africa’s senior national team coach is better off than most.

“It’s a little problem. Not a big problem. I am happy to be the coach of a team whose majority of players are local because we can start the camps. I don’t think my colleagues in other countries are so lucky at the moment,” Broos said.

Speaking to the media at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre, where the team is camping ahead of their departure to Morocco for the continental showpiece from December 21 to January 18, Broos addressed Fifa’s decision to reduce the release time for African players from two weeks to just one.

The silver-haired Belgian and his assistant Helman Mkhalele described the move as disrespectful to CAF and the African continent.

“It means players abroad cannot be with their national teams before the 15th. I wonder how countries like Morocco, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Mali, which rely entirely on overseas players, will cope. They get their players on the 15th and six days later Morocco play the opening match. That shows what Fifa thinks about CAF and Africa. I’m sure European clubs pushed them into it,” Broos added.

While fortunate to have most of his squad, Broos must manage four European-based players: Siyabonga Ngezana, Lyle Foster, Siphephelo Sithole, and standby but travelling player Chandre Campbell.

The straight-talking septuagenarian does not see the need for these players to return home before joining the squad in Morocco. Apart from Ngezana, who is expected to feature for his Romanian club on tomorrow night, the others could have commitments over the coming weekend.

“I don’t think you can ask those players to travel to be here on Monday and then fly to Morocco on Wednesday. I’m thinking of leaving them with their clubs so they can join us in Morocco,” Broos said.

Bafana are set to play a training match against Ghana on Tuesday. While pleased to have secured the tie, Broos said the result should not be overemphasised.

“It wasn’t easy to find a friendly, but at least we found one. Next Tuesday we will play Ghana. We know it won’t be their strongest team because they also have player availability issues. This is not a selection game, just training. It’s not important that we are playing against a weakened Ghana.”

Broos reminded fans that pre-tournament friendlies have never been about results. “Before the last AFCON, our final game was against Lesotho. That shows these games are mainly for training, and I’m happy we have this one.”