‘Otherwise it could’ve been a disaster’: Hugo Broos on Eswatini draw
A visibly irked Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has voiced out his thoughts after South Africa was held to a 0-0 draw in a friendly by Eswatini on Friday at the FNB Stadium.
In another surprising result for the rainbow nation, Bafana’s poor showing left Broos down in the dumps.
The Belgian tactician believes his side has pressed backwards on the pedals as they have failed to get results against Eswatini and Namibia while they managed to beat Morocco and Liberia in the AFCON qualifiers a few months ago.
He believes Bafana’s performance on Friday could have been worse if they played better opponents than Sihlangu Semnikati.
Broos says he couldn’t believe what he witnessed during the 90 minutes as he never recognised his team.
BAFANA BAFANA COACH HUGO BROOS GIVES THOUGHTS ON ESWATINI DRAW
“There were many feelings that went through my body during the game and now after the game,” Broos said after the game.
“Frustration, anger, unbelief…I didn’t believe what I saw, in the first half, and also the second half. But in the first half, we played very badly, I think we had one chance to score in 90 minutes against, again, with all due respect Eswatini.
“And we were lucky that we played today against the team of that level. Otherwise, it should be a disaster, it should’ve been a disaster.
“I didn’t recognise my team. We tried changing something during the half-time and hoping that things would be better. But we went down playing 90 minutes on the same low level.
“It’s unbelievable when three months ago, you saw that team playing against Morocco. It’s unbelievable four or five months ago, you saw that team playing against Liberia.
“You can’t believe your eyes when you see that. There was no passion, we lost nearly every duel, and we played far from our opponents. And if we were unlucky, Eswatini would score.
‘IT’S A WAKE UP CALL’
“That should have been really a disaster. So, I said to the boys, ‘Look in the mirror today and see what went wrong’. There are many things that went wrong today. Let’s hope that it’s a wake-up call for everyone.”
Broos says it’s high time they forgot what they did against Morocco and focused on the upcoming assignments.
“And that’s what we did against Morocco, you can forget it now. It’s the past. So, you can’t every time go back, ‘You see against Morocco how good we are’. You have to be good every game, every game.
“And if you can’t do it with good football, you win it with power and fighting spirit. And even that was not in our team today.”
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