Former Bafana Bafana midfielder Thanduyise Khuboni has highlighted parallels between Carlos Alberto Parreira, who coached South Africa in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the current coach Hugo Broos.
Khuboni was part of the squad that represented South Africa in the global showpiece, selected from the then-lowly Golden Arrows.
He says the Brazilian tactician advised him not to alter the football he played at Arrows when representing Bafana.
The 38-year-old is of the opinion that Broos has been employing a similar approach with his current Bafana team, which is why they have been performing admirably under his leadership.
Khuboni believes that the past coaches’ failures with Bafana can be attributed to their insistence on changing the country’s “natural style of play”.
KHUBONI FEELS BROOS IS EMPLOYING SIMILAR APPROACH AS PARREIRA’S
“His stubbornness helps him; I support him 100% because he doesn’t force players to change the way they play in their clubs,” said Khuboni. “If you look at everyone who’s selected there, they don’t change the way they play. And it’s rare especially when you’re coached by someone who’s from Europe.
“Most European coaches come here and force us to change our natural style of play. That confuses players, and we end up not having a strong national team.
“The one [national team] we have right now, I support it because this ‘white man’ [Broos]…I didn’t trust him.
“When they bring us ‘white coaches’ from Europe, I usually have doubts. [Carlos Alberto] Parreira was the last foreign coach I trusted. He was doing things exactly like Broos.
“He wasn’t changing our style of play because he’s from Brazil and they play similar football as us. So why change it because we’re strong in it.
“That’s where the previous coaches have been failing.
“So, he must continue [selecting the players he wants]. Even if he starts losing some games, I wish they can just let him do his job because Bafana Bafana is in good hands.”
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