Coach Broos says Bafana chose Sierra Leone and Botswana to avoid losing again

Coach Hugo Broos says Bafana Bafana chose to play against Sierra Leone and Botswana because they didn’t want to play bigger teams and lose again.

Bafana will face various nations in international friendly matches at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, starting with Sierra Leone on Saturday (3pm) and Botswana on Tuesday (3pm).

Early this year, Broos said he didn’t want to play friendlies against weaker countries as they wouldn't help Bafana get stronger.

Bafana played a friendly against world champions France losing  5-0 and Broos was surprised when the national team was criticised for losing.

“We chose these teams because we didn’t want any more big teams and again have a defeat,” Broos said.

“We saw what happened with Ghana, even when we had six games, four wins and one draw, people were not happy because we lost to Ghana.

“Then we [suffered] a big defeat to France, nobody talked about the world champions ... it was a humiliation.

“Then came Morocco; it was a little bit the same as Ghana. (Because) you can’t lose in Morocco.

“We couldn’t afford to play against a big, strong team and have a defeat again.”

While Broos said the team was not guaranteed victory against Sierra Leone or Botswana, it was important for his men to win to boost their confidence and win back the trust of SA.

“This is not a guarantee we will win and we don’t want to underestimate Sierra Leone or Botswana. If we don’t play on a good level against these teams we will have trouble again,” Broos said.

“We have to try to avoid this because we have to regain a little bit of confidence for ourselves, but also from the outside.

“I saw people believing in the team in the World Cup qualifiers and this has disappeared a bit. You see and hear more criticism than positive things.

“It is up to us to reverse that situation and regain the confidence of everybody but, first, for ourselves.”