Menzi Magubane
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos’ wish of playing highly ranked teams is being ignored as Safa has gone back to its old ways.
Instead of organising high ranked nations for international friendly matches, Bafana will play lowly ranked Botswana and Sierra Leone in friendly matches.
Early this year Broos made it clear that he wanted to see Bafana competing with the best in the world. He said his youthful Bafana will never learn anything by playing lower ranked nations like Botswana or Mozambique.
Later this month, national teams will take centre stage in their respective matches. Bafana is also expected to have a run after Safa managed to organise two friendlies for them – but against exactly the teams Broos didn’t want to play.
Botswana are currently ranked 146 in the world while Sierra Leone is placed at 113 in the Fifa rankings published in August. Bafana occupies the 68th spot.
In March, Broos demanded that Safa should organise higher ranked teams to improve Bafana’s standings.
The only high ranked teams that Broos got from Safa in March, after the Belgian issued his demands, were France and Guinea. It wasn’t a good outing for Bafana as they were humiliated by France who beat them 5-0 and drew with Guinea.
But for Broos, lessons were learnt in those matches and he wanted his employers to continue giving him those levels of teams to play against.
To avoid spending money by playing big teams, Safa would set up games against Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Zimbabwe during international breaks. It looks like the Belgian will have to get used to Safa’s way of doing things.
Image source: @NewFrame
