South Africa’s senior national team coach, Hugo Broos, on Saturday, blasted his players after their disappointing 0-0 draw with minnows, Eswatini on Friday.
The Bafana Bafana were lackluster as they laboured to hold the more enterprising Eswatini team whose youthful energy threatened to undo anything the South African team had to offer.
At the end of the encounter, Broos said his team showed no passion and fighting spirit as the match was the team’s worst performance since he took over in 2021.
“There were many feelings that I went through during and after the game,” Broos said while speaking to journalists.
“Those of frustration and anger because I didn’t believe what I saw in the first and second half. I think in the first half we had one chance to score and I am saying this with all respect to Eswatini.
“We were lucky that we played against a team of that level, otherwise it could have been a disaster. I didn’t recognise my team and I had to make changes during halftime hoping things will be better.
“We were not playing 90 minutes on the same low level. It’s unbelievable because three months ago we saw this team play good against Morocco. It’s unbelievable that four or five months ago we saw this team play against Liberia,” the bitter Broos lamented.
“You can’t believe your eyes where you saw them against Eswatini. There was no passion, we lost nearly every duel, we played far from our opponents and we were lucky they didn’t score because that could have been a disaster.
“I said to the boys they must look in the mirror and ask themselves what went wrong. There are many things that went wrong in this game and let’s hope that it is a wake-up call for everyone.
“You can’t ask people to come to the stadium to watch that type of football. You have to win the crowd and you don’t do it with a performance like we showed Eswatini.”