Bafana Bafana’s Broos is in the loop ahead of Uganda clash

Cedomir Janevski says that he and fellow assistant caoch Helman Mkhalele are in constant contact with Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos, as the team prepare for their first match under a new regime, a friendly against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Thursday.

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“We are in daily contact, we live in the same country (Belgium) and have known each other for 20 years,” said Janevski this week.
Preparations have not been easy for Bafana, with six players already ruled out of the squad this week through a combination of illness and injury. Percy Tau, Sipho Mbule, Teboho Mokoena, Rivaldo Coetzee, Mothobi Mvala and Mosa Lebusa are all out of Broos’ original squad.

“He (Broos) made a few weeks a go a list of more than just 19 players, in case, like now we have injuries or Covid problems. The coach knows everything,” added Janevski.

Born in Skopje in the former Yugoslavia, now the capital of North Macedonia, Janevski spent many years playing and coaching in Belgium, which is how he and Broos became so close.

In his short time here, Janevski did manage to catch one match, the DStv Premiership game between Swallows FC and Baroka that ended in a 1-1 draw. Janevski has also coached a South African player, Kaizer Chiefs veteran Bernard Parker, who spent a season on loan at Red Star Belgrade when he was head coach.

“You saw it was the end of the season, to be honest,” said Janevski of the Swallows-Baroka game.

“Both teams had nothing to win or lose (from the game). There were some good moments, and moments without tempo. But I saw some individual qualities in certain players, especially technically. I also don’t like seeing players passing and not running into space. Sometimes they forget you can run faster without the ball, but those are small things. There is a lot of talent (here). In 2009 I was head coach of Belgrade when they transferred Bernard Parker.

“But we don’t come here to teach players how to play, we need to teach them how to play as a team, that is our target.”

With Uganda’s most famous player in South Africa, Denis Onyango of Mamelodi Sundowns having retired from international football, Cranes head coach Abdallah Mubiru could still rely on a DStv Premiership player in goal against Bafana, with Chippa United’s Ismael Watenga in the squad.