Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has been sent a message by a concerned former footballer following the team's third place finish at the recently concluded COSAFA Cup.
Under the guidance of Morena Ramoreboli as the coach, Bafana lost to eventual winners Zambia in the semi-finals but did manage to defeat Malawi to finish the competition in the third place via penalties after game had ended 0-0 on regulation time at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Sunday.
Former South African youth international Japie Motale, who was impressed with Ramoreboli's side, would like to see Broos following the progress of the players during competitions like the COSAFA Cup.
The Good
"For me, the players that were selected for Bafana Bafana to play in the COSAFA Cup tried their level best to make the country proud. You must remember that for those kinds of competitions, it's the players that haven't been together for a while. Most of the players were playing together for the first time and reaching the semi-finals was an achievement in my opinion. Finishing in third place is a step in the right direction the way I see it. Some of the players were not even regulars for their teams during the season and that's why I think they did well. I think the coach and the players did well and there are positive signs to take from the tournament," said Motale.
The Bad
"My only worry is on what is going to happen to those players now that the COSAFA Cup has finished. Are we going to keep them in the system for another COSAFA Cup that will be coming, or even keep them in the plans for the bigger picture, which is the senior national team? There has to be continuation in my opinion. If we talk about building, those are the players that we should keep and build with them. We should be calling at least eight of those players to mix them with the senior national team players and rest the overseas-based guys. Give them friendly matches to play and build from there. We need to create a situation where the players that played at the COSAFA Cup can serve as a feeder team for the main Bafana Bafana team. For example, if Mshishi (Themba Zwane) is injured, we need to go and pick from the COSAFA Cup team for his replacement and those players shouldn't just disappear. But the opposite is likely to happen and only one or two players from the COSAFA Cup squad will survive if they are lucky and the rest will be nowhere to be see," he said.
The Ugly
Hugo Broos' absence in the COSAFA Cup
"It would have been good if the senior national team coach was there to watch these players and take some notes. But I guess he used the time of the tournament to rest. I don't understand why he would see it as an opportunity to rest when he has got so much time to rest during the season when the league is in progress. Bafana Bafana do not play week in and week out and therefore the coach has got so much time to rest. He shouldn't be resting when there is so much to be done by us as a country. I remember when we were still playing back in those days and Shakes Mashaba was the coach of the national team, he would get involved in the COSAFA Cup team as well. That was a good way to go about it and I wish the current national team coach was doing the same," concluded Motale.
How did you rate Bafana's performance at the COSAFA Cup?
