Johannesburg — Pitso Mosimane says Bafana Bafana’s coach Hugo Broos is entitled to his own opinions after his recent remarks on Cassius Mailula and failure to qualify for the Qatar World Cup.
Since arriving on South African shores almost two years back, the Belgian has asserted himself as a vocal coach, hardly shying away from speaking his opinions even if they ruffles feathers.
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Ahead of Bafana’s crucial Afcon qualifiers against Liberia tomorrow at Orlando Stadium and away in Monrovia next Tuesday, the silver-haired Belgian was back at it.
The 70-year-old argued that Mailula, 21, who’s arguably the hottest young property in the top flight this season after his exploits for Mamelodi Sundowns, wasn’t ready to move abroad.
He didn’t stop there. Broos insinuated he wasn’t entirely responsible for Bafana’s failure to qualify for the recent World Cup as he was still finding his feet and integrating young players in the team.
Those remarks didn’t sit well with the country’s most successful coach, Mosimane, who says players should always jump at the opportunity to move abroad.
“Sometimes, our coach says what he wants to say – any time and any day,” said Mosimane who was unveiled as one of the 2023 Nedbank Cup ambassadors at Konka, Soweto, yesterday.
Having left the local top flight in 2020, moving to Egypt and then Saudi Arabia, where he’s coaching Al Ahli in the second tier, Mosimane advised locals to not only seek European offers.
“I think the players don’t know what’s happening outside, they only say Europe whereas there’s North Africa here and secondly there’s the Gulf here. And then, there’s also Europe,” Mosimane said.
“In Europe, there’s Europe of the top six leagues in the world and Europe of where the Patson Daka and Sadio Mane started. There's Scandinavia, and Belgium. And those countries develop players.”
Mosimane, a former Bafana coach himself, believes that Broos should account for the national team's failure to qualify for major tournaments after missing the World Cup.
“I listened to a voice clip yesterday and he said he’s responsible for Afcon, but nobody must blame him for the World Cup,” Mosimane explained.
“I think when you are a national team coach, it’s Afcon and the World Cup (that you must prioritise). Maybe he was told he was not responsible for the results of the World Cup.
“How do you say that? I think coach Broos has done well by unveiling young players and all that – at the beginning of course. Themba Zwane and Percy Taus are back, which is good.”
But after assembling a relatively strong squad for the qualifiers against Liberia, Mosimane says Bafana have no excuse but to qualify for the finals in Ivory Coast next year.
“I think we’ll qualify for the Afcon. We only need four points. I have seen Liberia play against Morocco. I was in Morocco. So we’ll do well and qualify for that,” he said.
With 48 nations set to participate in the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, Africa will have nine spots. Mosimane says one of those should belong to Bafana.
“Sometimes, coach Broos says what he wants to say and I get taken aback as a South African citizen and a coach,” Mosimane said.
“And I say ‘oh, oh’. But that’s his personality, his philosophy and how he looks at our country. I don’t know. What’s important is to focus on the results. If he takes us to Afcon, that’s what we want.
“We have no excuse not to make the next World Cup. I mean it’s nine countries (Africa). So how can we miss that?"