Menzi Magubane
Menzi on Wednesday: The time has come for Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos and his team to show what they are made of, by at least qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
Fans can’t be expected to deal with another failure to qualify, after Bafana missed out on the last Afcon held in Cameroon in January.
Bafana supporters were able to forgive Broos and his players when they weren’t unable to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
They understood that the defeat by Ghana away wasn’t fair to Bafana, as referee Maguette N’diaye seemed to favour the Black Stars.
This time things may turn ugly for the Belgian and his team if they fail again.
Football pundits in South Africa don’t see Broos losing his job if he doesn’t succeed in leading Bafana to next year’s Afcon in Ivory Coast. But fans will certainly give him a hard time if they don’t qualify.
When Broos took over from Molefi Ntseki, who lost his job for failing to lead Bafana to the Cameroon Afcon, his mandate from the SA Football Association was to rebuild the team and make sure that they qualify for 2023 Afcon and the 2026 World Cup.
But can Safa forgive Broos if he doesn’t fulfil his mandate?
On Monday the coach announced a 37-man preliminary squad for the qualifiers.
Next Wednesday he will trim it to 23 players that he will take to Morocco in the first match of the qualifiers later this month.
After the Morocco clash, Bafana will host Zimbabwe, then they battle Liberia. The Belgian saw the Moroccans as the team that will give him the biggest challenge, while the other two don’t stress him much.
But in football anything can happen and there are really no “small” teams anymore.
So, Broos will have to be wary of all the teams that he will face. His reputation is at stake and supporters won’t really be happy with him if he loses to Liberia and Zimbabwe.
Image source: @SportsBrief
