Broos again slams PSL and beer cup after Bafana’s draw against Angola

After his team's failure to beat Angola, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos moved to familiar territory, again lashing out at the Premier Soccer League's (PSL) decision to stage the Carling Black Label Cup immediately before the international break.

Broos felt the staging of the single day friendly tournament, which follows a gimmicky format where starting line-ups are voted for by the fans, worked against the national team as he received fatigued players at the camp in Mbombela.

The gruelling schedule for the beer cup saw AmaZulu meet Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs clash against Orlando Pirates in early semifinals before the final between Sundowns and Pirates in the evening.  

Broos said such a tournament so soon before the Bafana camp meant his players battled to handle two high-level internationals played in three days.

After a relatively convincing 2-1 win over Mozambique at Mbombela Stadium on Thursday, Bafana were held to a 1-1 draw by an Angola who were better organised than the Mambas at the same venue on Sunday.

The games  formed the final preparation for Bafana ahead of their crucial 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Liberia in March.

Against Angola, Bafana needed a Zakhele Lepasa penalty to salvage a draw in front of a lively crowd. Broos felt South Africa's failure to earn four friendly wins in succession — in September they beat Sierra Leone 4-0 and Botswana 1-0 in games in Johannesburg — could be blamed on fatigue.

“We didn’t achieve the same level we achieved on Thursday [against Mozambique],” Broos said.

“I think it was a problem of fatigue and I can understand that, because really if you see the problem of these guys it can happen that today we were a bit less fresh than normal.

“We had players from [Mamelodi] Sundowns, [Orlando] Pirates and [Kaizer] Chiefs. Those players played two matches last Saturday [in the Black Label Cup].

“Do you think that is normal? Two games of 90 minutes within eight hours. And therefore I didn’t understand why the Carling Cup was played at that moment.

“There was time [to schedule the Carling Cup] in December just before the league [resumed from the break for the 2022 World Cup].”

In the September Broos was able to run the rule over the players in his squad by fielding two different line-ups against Sierra Leone and Botswana, but the coach said this was not an option in last week's camp.

“Otherwise I could have done the same thing as in September and say this team will play this game and another team the second game. But this was not the right thing to do because in March we are playing important matches.”