Key issues Bafana coach Hugo Broos urgently wants to discuss with PSL coaches

One of the issues Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos wants to discuss with Premier Soccer League (PSL) coaches is training methodology and how to professionalise players. 

Broos, who helped Bafana to a third-spot finish at the recent Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in the Ivory Coast, said this week maybe South African players need to train differently and be pushed harder. 

For many years there have been largely informal discussions of promoting the South African style of play, where the technical skills of local players can be maximised, and to help players to be more professional. 

In the case of adopting a new playing philosophy, the South Africa Football Coaches Association (SAFCA) is among those in the forefront of those discussions, but the reality is teams are coached by coaches with different philosophies. 

When it comes to ill-discipline and a lack of professionalism by the majority of South African players, cases are well-documented. Broos said maybe it's time players are made to take responsibility for their actions.

Coaches have in the past made the point that some players have failed to handle fame and fortune for a variety of reasons, including a lack of education and coming from poor or sometimes dysfunctional family backgrounds. 

Speaking when he named his 23-member squad for the Fifa Series pilot project in Algeria next week, the outspoken Broos quoted former Bafana star striker and current Manchester United first team coach Benni McCarthy, who once said South African players are stuck in a comfort zone. 

Benni McCarthy once said players have too much good life here and maybe it is true

—  Hugo Broos, Bafana Bafana coach

“We have to count on the PSL and maybe we have to train differently, maybe we have to ask more from the players. Benni McCarthy once said players have too much good life here and maybe it is true,” he said. 

“Maybe we have to be a little bit more severe with them [players]. Maybe we have to ask them to be more professional — and not only on the pitch but away from it also. These are things we have to discuss [with the PSL coaches].”

Broos also wants to find a way for talented teenagers who are knocking on the Bafana door to get international football minutes at tournaments like the African Nations Championship (Chan) or the Cosafa Cup. 

“If they want to see progression in South African football, you can’t always count on Bafana Bafana but you need a foundation. For the last two years, it was us [Bafana] who looked and tried the players. This is not the right way to work; they have to go to Chan and Olympics before they arrive at Bafana. This is what we want.

“From there you can start building something and we need a little bit of collaboration from the clubs and from the PSL. 

“We have new players but these players you will only see when they play for Bafana because clubs don’t want to release them for Chan. I can’t always test the players with Bafana because we play in qualifiers; you cannot take that risk. 

“So they can play at a lower level of international football, like Chan and Cosafa, where they can show their skills and also earn international experience. This will make it easier for me to see [if] this one is ready for Bafana. 

“So I hope there is a little bit of co-operation from the clubs and the PSL to release the players for those [lower-level games], so we can build a team. It is important for South African football to be at Chan, the Olympics, Afcon and the World Cup.” 

Broos also decried the fact that junior national teams always plays when there are qualifiers. 

“This is also something that I have already said in the past, that they [junior national teams] don’t play enough matches because they only play when there are qualifiers. Let’s hope we can make a plan. But again, it is not only us [Safa] — you need collaboration and support from other important stakeholders, like the clubs and the PSL. If they don’t support this, then it is going to be impossible.”