Hugo Broos has opened up how he was close to “quitting” Bafana Bafana job and why he persisted.
The 71-year-old coach was named as the South Africa mentor in May 2021, replacing Molefi Ntseki. A few months after his appointment, he came close to guiding the national team to the playoffs of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
But still he was surprised by fierce criticism directed at him particularly for his squad selection.
In the following year Bafana were whipped 5-0 by France in the international friendly match. They also lost to Morocco 2-1 in the AFCON qualifiers.
Broos has revealed that after these two defeats, he was contemplating leaving his job. He felt everything was heading south and there was no direction in what he was trying to steer.
However, he eventually chose to believe that he had “always been a winner”. His former assistant coach Cedomir Janevski left but Broos lingered with Helman Mkhalele in the dugout.
Helping SA to qualify for the most recent AFCON and defeating the World Cup semi-finalist Morocco last year gave him hope that “Now maybe we can do something”.
HUGO BROOS ON COMING CLOSE TO QUITTING BAFANA BAFANA JOB
“After France 5-0 and Morocco 2-1, I was thinking about quitting, this was too much,” said Broos.
“What people said, it was too much but it’s okay I’ve always been a winner. I wanted to at least leave South Africa with something. So, suddenly everything fell in the right position, in the right place.
“You start winning, you qualify for AFCON, the players start to believe, you win against Morocco in the last group match [of AFCON qualifiers].
“And then suddenly there is a belief that, ‘Now maybe we can do something.’ And then you need your luck that it happens, when we should have been out in the group phase [at AFCON].
“It should also be difficult for me to say, ‘Yes believe’. The players understood it also I think. My relationship with the players is very good and I think this is the basic of good results.”
When asked further about his considerations of leaving Bafana, Broos revealed that he even went back to Morocco and had meetings with his Janevski about their next potential projects.
‘THERE IS A VOICE THAT SHOUTED LOUDER…NO, GO ON!’
“I was close [to quitting Bafana]…I talk about it because, remember after the Morocco [match] in Morocco, I went home and I was five weeks home,” he continued.
“I spoke with Cedomir Janevski [former Bafana assistant coach], the assistant was still there. So, I had a few meetings with him in Belgium to see what we were going to do and this and that.
“I thought over and over again…I didn’t want to quit. There was something that said, ‘why should you go?’…Everything is negative, there is nothing good.
“But there was a voice who shouted louder, ‘No, go on, go on. Believe in what you believe in and it will happen’. Okay it happened but yeah I was rather close.”
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