If the suits at the SA Football Association (Safa) had bothered to glance at the statistics of how the country’s players performed in Europe in the 2021/22 season, perhaps they would have realised it is Hugo Broos who is owed an apology, not the other way around.
The Bafana Bafana coach caused a storm when he slammed the standard of SA football, arguing the Premier Soccer League (PSL) doesn’t produce enough players with the quality to light up the best leagues in the world.
“It’s time now to face the real problem. And what is the real problem of SA? It is that we don’t have those high-quality players. We don’t have those players: the quality that is playing in Europe,” Broos said, comparing the Bafana line-up with those produced by Ghana, France and Morocco.
Broos’ sentiments divided opinion. Many felt the coach was being disrespectful to the country that had given him a job. Others agreed with the 70-year-old, going as far as saying people were only upsetbecause the truth hurts.
Though the statistics of the football season that ended in May back Broos’ sentiments, and those who agree with him, it was clear the Belgian was made to apologise leading up to the congress where Danny Jordaan was re-elected for a third term as Safa president. With the drama surrounding the build-up to the elections, tracking how South Africans were progressing abroad wouldn’t have featured high on the agenda, with characters such as Safa NEC member Tankiso Modipa’s main role being to protect Jordaan — at whatever cost, leading to the official spewing diatribe that the governing body had to clean up.
Bongokuhle Hlongwane is gradually settling in the MLS. He has made 21 league appearances, starting nine, though he is yet to find the back of the net in a competitive match.
The most recent big move from the PSL to a top league abroad was when Bongokuhle Hlongwane left Maritzburg United to sign a three-year contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) side Minnesota United in January this year.
The MLS, whose season starts from February and runs until October, doesn’t rank high in the top leagues in the world, but with the young talent coming through there, it will soon be an important feature in the world stage and might even propel the US to being a force.
Hlongwane is gradually settling in the MLS. He has made 21 league appearances, starting nine, though he is yet to find the back of the net in a competitive match.
While his star is on the rise, that of the country’s best footballer seems to be diminishing. Percy Tau has struggled for game time in Egypt, even before coach Pitso Mosimane, with whom he won the 2016 Caf Champions League, left Al Ahly. Tau’s move from England to Egypt was supposed to be a recalibration exercise for the former Brighton & Hove Albion attacker to find his feet and confidence. It has done the opposite, with Tau falling in the pecking order at Ahly, and if Bafana Bafana had more potent goalscorers, he would also have found himself struggling for game time there too.
Khanya Leshabela, who can lay claim to plying his trade in the most high-profile league, spent the bulk of last season in Leicester City’s under-23 team in Premier League 2 — Division One. He made only eight appearances and failed to find the back of the net.
Lebo Mothiba also struggled for consistency at Troyes, who he joined after being sent on loan by Strasbourg in France’s Ligue 1. Mothiba had a decent start at Troyes, after being sidelined by a knee injury, scoring two goals in his first seven games and even winning the club’s Player of the Month accolade for April. But goals dried up for the forward who had his contract extended by Strasbourg, which shows they see value in him.
Just a few seasons ago SA had four players plying their trade in Ligue 1. Keagan Dolly, 29, returned to the PSL for Kaizer Chiefs from Montpellier last season despite only being 28 at the time. Lebogang Phiri, who was at one stage earning rave reviews for Guingamp, now plays for Paris FC in Ligue 2.
The decline in the career of Bongani Zungu — perhaps Bafana’s best player as 2019 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinalists — best reflects the scarcity of success for SA players abroad in 2021/22. A loan move to Rangers in Scotland after Amiens were relegated from Ligue 1 seemed to hold endless potential. Instead, the midfielder has gone into meltdown. His breaking of Covid-19 laws in Scotland saw him sent back to Amiens where Zungu played just 13 games in Ligue 2 in 2021/22. He is battling to find a club after not renewing his contract with Amiens.
Lars Veldwijk in South Korea (with 18 goals from 37 appearances in 2021 for Suwon), Sphelele Sithole in Portugal and Thulani Serero in the United Arab Emirates had good seasons. But it must be a concern that not even a handful of the country’s players are making an impression in leagues that feature some of the world’s best players.
Broos was clearly deflecting from Bafana losing a match they had no business losing, having pinned Morocco back in the early stages of the encounter but failed to make an impact. What’s alarming though is that cheap political point-scoring is the focus when the game is in decline in the country, needing all stakeholders to come together to improve the standards in all divisions.
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