Broos vows to build youthful Bafana Bafana

Hugo Broos has promised to rebuild a young Bafana Bafana team, after being named the new head coach of the South African senior national team on Wednesday.

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The 69 year-old Belgian will arrive in the country next week, and will sit down with Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe to iron out the final details of his contract, but it is understood he will not be mandated to qualify the team for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.

Broos promised to take the same model he used when head coach of Cameroon, when he took a young Indomitable Lions side to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title, though he was sacked after failing to qualify the team for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.

“We watched some (Bafana) matches last week, and made an analysis, I was a bit surprised when I saw the selections for the last games. I take the example of Cameroon, I did the same there, when I worked with young players, who were motivated and hungry to show themselves.

“I was a player and I know when you are 30 years or older, the motivation is less. You are happy to be in the national team, but your hunger is less. After South Africa did not qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations next year, this has to be the moment to build a younger team.”

With the Confederation of African Football seemingly set to postpone the opening 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers from June to September, this could give Broos more time to build the side, before the competitive action starts. However, it will still be extremely difficult to get Bafana to the World Cup finals, with only one country progressing from a group also containing Ghana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, and even then having to win a two-legged play-off against another group winner.

“We will do everything to qualify for the World Cup next year, but it can’t be a deception if we don’t. To build a team takes time, it is a good opportunity for these players to play games and to see what it is to play at this level. For me, what is most important is what happens after the World Cup (2022).”

Safa president Danny Jordaan said that Broos’ contract negotiations would set targets in terms of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2026 World Cup finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada.