'He's no Mo Salah,' Broos says of Percy Tau's role in Bafana Bafana

South Africans should not expect miracles from Percy Tau, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos said on Friday.

Some South African football supporters were not impressed with Tau's performance in the Bafana Bafana team that surprised many when they finished third in the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast.

Tau had a fairly modest tournament where his performances varied in matches and had to pick himself up after missing a crucial penalty that could have given Bafana a lead in the opening game against Mali that Broos' team ended up losing 2-0.

The striker did open the scoring from the spot in the team's second game against neighbours Namibia that Bafana won 4-0.

In games against Tunisia, Morocco, Cape Verde and Nigeria after their victory over Namibia, Tau's performance was up and down and not quite what was expected of him, though he won a crucial penalty for Bafana to level matters in the semifinal against Nigeria, to take the match to extra-time and penalties where South Africa eventually lost.

“You expect too much from Percy,” was Broos' response when asked whether he was happy with how Tau performed at Afcon where he scored one goal (the penalty) in six matches he played.

“Percy is a very good player. But all South Africans think he's a man who can decide the game. Percy cannot decide the game. When Percy plays with full confidence the level of the South African team is high because he's a good player.

“But he will not be the player who decides the game. He's, for example, not [Mo] Salah from Egypt. He's not [Victor] Osimhen from Nigeria. He's not that sort of player.” 

But the coach insisted Tau is a good player for South Africa and appealed to South Africans not to expect him to be the player that he's not. 

“Percy is a very good player for my team and he played a good game against Namibia and Morocco. He had chances that he didn't score and this is Percy. So don't make him a guy who will win games for Bafana Bafana ... this is not true [possible].

“A good Percy just puts the level [of Bafana] higher when he plays for Bafana. And when he's not in good shape everyone says 'look how is Percy'. OK, but for me I still have confidence in Percy. I know he can bring us a level higher.

“But you need to judge him fairly, but that in South Africa doesn't happen. They want miracles from him. Percy can't give you miracles, he can't.”