The 'real deal' — despite Bafana Bafana's painful past with foreign ...

The South African senior men’s soccer side, colloquially known as Bafana Bafana, has always had an underwhelming relationship with international coaches. 

Who could forget the musical chairs played by Brazilian coaches Carlos Alberto Parreira and Joel Santana in the build-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup? 

In 2007 Parreira arrived in South Africa to much fanfare, having the World Cup as national coach in his home country in 1994. 

His CV was almost as long as a Harry Potter novel, so he was deemed experienced enough to guide South Africa in the 2010 World Cup they were hosting. 

Due to his high-profile, he was not cheap for the South African Football Association (Safa), reportedly earning a monthly salary of R1,8-million during his first of two stints with Bafana Bafana. 

“People are critical of my salary. But it’s not that high when you compare it to the best-paid jobs in football. I didn’t come for the money. I’m a man of independent means and I saw coaching the host nation as a challenge,” Parreira said at the time. 

However, he vacated the hot seat just a year after his appointment, a tenure in which he had mixed results. The veteran coach cited the ill-health of his wife back home for his departure. 

Having left Safa in a lurch, the veteran tactician was kind enough to suggest some successors to his former employers. This list included his good friend and compatriot Santana, who Safa eventually chose as Parreira’s replacement.      

Read more: Bafana Bafana face tough battle against Uganda in Afcon qualifiers amid Safa woes

This appointment was ill-fated, despite Bafana Bafana reaching the semifinals of the eight-nation Confederations Cup in 2009. Before Santana’s sacking towards the end of 2009, South Africa suffered eight defeats in nine matches. 

They also failed to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) under his watch, despite being the first and only African nation to host a soccer World Cup.

Safa replaced Santana with Parreira in October of 2009, giving birth to what some termed the Brazilian Economic Empowerment. 

During Parreira’s second spell as South Africa coach, the team played some exciting soccer and exuded confidence. However, when the World Cup came around — South Africa made the wrong kind of history as they became the first host country to be eliminated in the group stage of the global showpiece. 

They have since been joined in that hall of shame by the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar.

In addition to the two Brazilians, foreign coaches such as Portuguese Carlos Queiroz and Scotsman Stuart Baxter did not reach the expected heights. Even Romanian Ted Dumitru — who is considered one the greatest coaches in South African club soccer history — failed to live up to the hype.

Hugo Broos of South Africa during the CAF Africa Cup of Nations match between South Africa and Namibia at on 21 January 2024 in Korhogo, Ivory Coast. (Photo: Segun Ogunfeyitimi/Gallo Images)

It is current Bafana Bafana mentor Hugo Broos — despite arriving with less expectation and hype — who has really justified why Safa chose to hire a foreigner. Especially when coaches such as Pitso Mosimane and former Bafana Bafana striker Benni McCarthy were favourites among the public.  

There were questions of whether a 69-year-old would contribute significantly to the country’s soccer sphere when he replaced Molefi Ntseki in Bafana’s hot seat back in 2021. Was he just here to make some easy money and sail into retirement? Broos has answered emphatically: No! 

The Belgian has created a pack of players that he favours and trusts since appointment. He has also found the combinations that make the team tick. 

Read more: ‘Annoyed’ Bafana boss Hugo Broos confident his side can start Afcon qualifiers perfectly

Broos has built the team from the ground up, not always picking the most publicly popular players, but selecting players he feels can add all-round value to his team. 

“When I came to South Africa, first of all, I was a little bit surprised that there were so many old players in the team. So, we had to change [this],” Broos has said in the past. 

“I had a lot of critics… Because I took players not only from the big teams, but also from the little clubs… [But] we needed some time. It was nearly one year later that we found what we needed. We also changed the style of South African football. We tried to play more direct,” the Belgian added.

As a result of stubbornness and confidence in his abilities, he recently became the first South African coach to qualify for back-to-back Afcons. Simply because he has stayed long enough to achieve this feat. 

Bafana Bafana will be at Morocco 2025, on the back of them clinching their first Afcon medal in more than two decades at the 2023 edition, hosted by Ivory Coast. They qualified for the upcoming edition with two matches to spare.    

A gold medal in Morocco would place Broos alongside Clive Barker, the man who guided Bafana Bafana to their sole major silverware with victory at Afcon 1996. DM