Broos needs to take care of Ngezana situation, but his Bafana have fight and potential

Hugo Broos gets so much right it is hard to split hairs and criticise some of the few decisions that raise eyebrows.

But, after being lavished with praise for an almost perfect 2024, which came on the back of a promising year before that, the start to 2023 bronze medallists Bafana Bafana’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign has had some patchiness to it.

Even Broos admitted there might have been an element of divine intervention — Orlando Pirates fans will say it was a Thalente Mbatha intervention — in coming through relatively unscathed with four points from their first two games, to be separated in second place by goal difference from Uganda at the top of Group K.

Super-sub Mbatha’s remarkable 95th-minute interventions to earn a 2-2 draw against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Friday, and a 3-2 win against South Sudan in Juba on Tuesday, should be enough — should Bafana keep to form and mentality and use their emerging talent (no pun) — to get to the 2025 Nations Cup. “We're lucky the good Lord was with us in these two games that we could score against Uganda after 94 minutes and today [Tuesday] after 95,” Broos said.

But there are one or two hairs to split.

Bafana under Broos are a revelation in their toughness under pressure and consistency in results. And “toughness” and “consistency” in the national team’s mostly woeful last two decades have not been words they’d have been associated with — not even close. It says a lot about the turnaround he’s masterminded.

Their bronze medal at this year’s Nations Cup was built on the confidence gained from 15 games, losing once, where they even shocked 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco in a qualifier. At the Afcon, Bafana lost their opener against Mali and semifinal against Nigeria, on penalties, drawing one game and winning four, including another sensational upset against Morocco in the quarters.

Since the tournament they have drawn four and won two in friendlies and Afcon and World Cup qualifiers, including a 1-1 away against Nigeria.

By these standards, the beginning of the next Nations Cup cycle this week showed a continuation of a trend of being able to produce big results, though this time only just.

Broos is absolutely correct that the late start to the Betway Premiership this weekend, meaning much of his squad had not played a competitive game, was part of the reason. The other part he did not mention had to do with two particularly strange selections.

AmaZulu goalkeeper Veli Mothwa can be brilliant, and can be mistake-prone. His selection against Uganda having not played a game, when Orlando Pirates’ Sipho Chaine had played five without much blemish, seemed unwise, and the Usuthu man let a shot through his fingers. Chaine made few mistakes coming in against South Sudan.

Broos has raved about the form of Siyabonga Ngezana for FCSB (the club you’d recognise as Steaua Bucharest, who have a naming rights issue) for months and seemed eager to give him a run. From the coach’s reviews, South Africans thought a centreback who could be error-prone before leaving Kaizer Chiefs in July last year might have developed well in Romania.

Either Ngezana was trying too hard to prove himself when given a run for Bafana, or his tendency for mistakes remains. Either way, his selection ahead of Mamelodi Sundowns stalwart Grant Kekana, who played every game, and well, at the Nations Cup in Ivory Coast, raised eyebrows against Uganda and more so against South Sudan given Ngezana’s error led to the Cranes’ other goal in Orlando.

Broos admitted both Bafana’s goals in the afternoon heat and on the artificial surface of Juba National Stadium came from his team’s defensive errors. Like any good coach, he did not name the player — Ngezana — who conceded the opening penalty, then slipped on his challenge for South Sudan’s second-half equaliser after Oswin Appollis’s brace had come through much sweat to give Bafana the lead by the break.

“And OK, individual mistakes can always happen, but now in two games we made individual mistakes — the second goal against Uganda was a mistake and today the two goals we conceded were from individual mistakes,” the coach said.

“So this is something we have to do better in the next games, certainly next month against Congo. And I’m sure we will be because by then my players would have had more competitive games because this weekend the league starts in South Africa.”

One might assume that would be the end of the Ngezana experiment for now. With Broos, that might not be a safe assumption to make. He has shown a stubborn streak on occasion.

In his first 18 months in charge, one of the first players on Broos’s team sheet would be Nyiko Mobbie at right-back. The country raised questions, as Mamelodi Sundowns’ utility player Thapelo Morena, and later fullback specialist Khuliso Mudau, seemed clearly stronger choices. Once Mudau got his chance, he made the position his own and was among the best right-backs in Ivory Coast. True to character, Mobbie remains in almost every squad Broos names.

The coach, early on, also resisted calling Themba Zwane for months. Broos’s youth policy was welcomed, but sidelining South Africa’s best creative influence by some margin was concerning even if he was well into his 30s. Broos relented and quickly Zwane became the coach’s ‘darling’.

Sometimes his stubbornness works. Broos, a squad member of the famous Belgian semi-finalists of the Mexico 1986 World Cup, is a football man through and through. He knows what he’s doing. When Siyanda Xulu, another centreback who can make costly mistakes, had a poor game in Bafana’s 2-0 Nations Cup opening defeat in January, he was sidelined. There were howls of dismay when Broos brought him back in a three-man defence in the semifinal against Nigeria, where Xulu was superb.

Still, there is a concern. Mobbie is at least a strong defender. He does not make too many glaring mistakes. The issue was just there seemed better right-backs. Ngezana’s two performances this month indicated if Broos persists with him, it could prove costly.

Mostly, Broos’s eye for talent and adventurousness are bringing through players with potential quickly — so many conservative Bafana coaches waited far past they needed to in introducing youngsters making waves domestically — continues to energise and strengthen Bafana.

Polokwane City prospect Appollis is a genuine prospect and to have scored a crucial brace already for the national team at just 23 will raise his confidence no end. He plays as a winger, but might be able to replace Zwane as a playmaker some day.

Next to Ngezana, Chiefs’ 22-year-old signing from relegated Cape Town Spurs Rushwin Dortley was a revelation in Bafana’s back four.

There is so much fight and potential in this Bafana. They got bronze in Ivory Coast this year; with the talent coming through they could even challenge for the trophy in the next finals in Morocco that straddle December 2025 and January 2026.

But Bafana have to get there first. Game time in the Betway Premiership will make the South Africans much stronger against Congo. Broos also needs to approach his selections, and especially the Ngezana situation, with care.