Hugo Broos, the coach of Bafana Bafana, revealed that he deliberately misled the media to shield his players from negative scrutiny. Following the team’s recent 2-0 defeat to Mexico in their World Cup opener at the Azteca Stadium, Broos emphasized that it is not his role to publicly criticize his players.
“The mistakes we made in the first game… some people said the coach is too soft on his players but I don’t blame players in front of the camera, sometimes you have to lie a bit as a coach, and that’s what I did,” Broos stated. He acknowledged, however, that the team is aware of their shortcomings and aims to improve before their next match.
This evening, Bafana Bafana will face Czechia at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, where victory is crucial for the team’s prospects. “We know what went wrong against Mexico and we will try to improve that tomorrow, we can improve, especially with the ball — and then we can win the game,” he asserted.
The match is scheduled to start at 6 PM South African time. A triumph for the team would alleviate the need for Broos’ earlier ‘lies’ regarding player performance.