BROOS’ BABES

Photos: BackpagePix By: HERMAN GIBBS

Bafana may not have qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but Hugo Broos’ young team showed plenty of promise

SOUTH African football has just emerged from a rebuilding phase under wily tactician Hugo Broos smelling like roses.

However, there are still parts of Mzansi where the air is thick with acrid smoke, as fans are still fuming from the stinging defeat in Ghana.

Apart from the contentious penalty, Bafana Bafana were eventually undone by the criteria of the 2022 World Cup qualifying rounds.

Both Ghana and Bafana ended with 13 points at the top of Group G, and both had a goal difference of four.

It was the fact that Ghana had scored seven goals, as opposed to Bafana’s six that was the deciding factor.

It became clear from his comments, both before and after the Ghana clash, that Broos was not entirely au fait with how things would work should results go down to the wire in the final qualifying match.

Ethan Brooks’ inexperience showed against Ghana, but the young midfielder will have learnt some harsh lessons.

We know from past Cricket World Cups that the Proteas have failed to progress to the knockout stages because their run-rate calculations were not always on point.

Somehow, the matter of the qualifying criteria would not have been uppermost in Broos’ mind, otherwise he would have exhorted his players to rack up the goals against Zimbabwe instead of settling for a slender 1-0 triumph.

It is also likely to assume that Broos would not have known that Ghana last lost a home match in 2001, and since then have been on a 25-match run (21 wins, four draws) without defeat.

If he knew that statistic, he would have mentioned it in his press conferences and would of known Bafana needed a miracle to beat Ghana at home.

It points to a case of not being thorough in his homework, and when a World Cup berth is at stake, no stone must be left unturned.

So much praise has been heaped on Broos for his youthful squad, which had surpassed expectations. They came within a whisker of reaching Caf’s final qualifying round.

On Sunday, more than ever, Bafana’s greenhorns battled the odds against street-smart opponents, and it was a nightmare outing for many of them.

Individually their ratings were all down, except for left back Terrence Mashego, who fought fire with fire.

Keagan Dolly and Bruce Vuma console their teammate Rushine De Reuck after Bafana lost to hosts Ghana in their Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier.

Broos needed some experienced heads on the field to act as a glue to hold the team together, especially when they were under the whip and required to absorb pressure.

It was therefore mystifying why Broos kept his best player, Keagan Dolly, under wraps until the final 15 minutes of the game.

Going forward (Afcon 2023 and World Cup 2026), Broos will have to adjust his way of thinking and select some experienced players to balance the team.

He has also won the admiration of many after selecting players from smaller clubs, showing an aversion to calling up players from South Africa’s most dominant side Mamelodi Sundowns. Granted, not all Sundowns players are national team material, but there are at least four players who could form the nucleus of a match-winning combination.

Bafana coach Hugo Broos has won the admiration of many due to selecting players from the so-called smaller clubs in South Africa.