Sundowns’ Mngqithi annoyed by appointment of Bafana coach Broos

Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi could not hide his displeasure at the South African Football Association’s (Safa) decision to appoint Belgian Hugo Broos as Bafana Bafana head coach.

ALSO READ: Hugo Broos confirmed as new Bafana boss

Broos was on Thursday named as the new Bafana Bafana head coach and his immediate task is to qualify for the 2022 Fifa World Cup at the back of failing to book a spot in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Simply put, Mngqithi believes in the concept, “local is lekker” and wishes Safa had appointed a home grown coach instead of Broos.

“I think we have had too many foreigners who have not had big success with our national team,” said Mngqithi.

He continued: “I just believe that sometimes we don’t know what South African coaches are capable of. We take them for granted and we only realise very late and when we give them opportunities we don’t support them as much as we support foreigners. We will always see them as not succeeding and maybe it is because we are not giving them the same sufficient support that we normally give the foreigners.”

It is not clear who is going to be Broos’ assistant as former head coach, but there is a rumoure that Molefi Ntseki could be redeployed to his former post as assistant coach where he served under Stuart Baxter before he was roped into the hot seat in 2019.

“It is important for such people to be surrounded by people who know these players and those should be South African coaches. The culture of having a foreigner with some local full-time assistant coaches will help. It benefited coach Pitso Mosimane a lot under Carlos Alberto Pereira and I believe it can help any other South African coach who can be given the privilege to work closely with the coach who has been appointed,” said Mngqithi.

“The truth of the matter is that the development of our coaches and football is very important, even if you bring foreign expertise, it is always a very wise move to have some local coaches in that space so that you benefit something from the legacy of that [foreign] coach that you bring in because we believe that maybe he is bringing something that South Africans do not have. If somebody brings some scarce skills that South Africa does not have, we will have to support him and see what he offers,” Mngqithi added.

Mngqithi did not hide his support for having a local coach leading Bafana as AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy was one of those who were approached by Safa but negotiations collapsed.

“I would always be somebody who supports the thinking that South Africans are capable of doing it themselves because if you can ask him (Broos) who are the key players at Sundowns, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs or SuperSport United, he might not even know one and it will take him time to adjust and understand all the players we locally and internationally.”