Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos could not believe what he saw against eSwatini, saying their performance did not help their cause in attracting supporters.
Broos’ charges were held to a goalless draw in the friendly match at the almost empty FNB Stadium on Friday afternoon.
He said if they were playing against the higher opposition, they would have lost the match.
“We were lucky that we played against a team of that level, otherwise it could have been a disaster,” reacted Broos.
“I didn’t recognise my team and I had to make changes during halftime hoping things will be better.
“We were not playing 90 minutes on the same low level. It’s unbelievable because three months ago we saw this team play well against Morocco.
“It’s unbelievable that four or five months ago we saw this team play against Liberia.
“You can’t believe your eyes when you see them against Eswatini. There was no passion, we lost nearly every duel, we played far from our opponents and we were lucky they didn’t score because that could have been a disaster.
“I said to the boys they must look in the mirror and ask themselves what went wrong. There are many things that went wrong in this game and let’s hope that it is a wake-up call for everyone.
“What we did against Morocco is in the past. You can’t every time go and talk about how good we were against Morocco, we have to be good in every game. If you can’t win it with good football, you win it with power and fighting spirit.
“And that was not in our team and let’s hope this is a wake-up call.”
On Tuesday Bafana will face a strong Ivory Coast side at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan (21:00), although Mzansi has yet to lose to the Elephants away.
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“We know it was bad but on Tuesday we must take our revenge against Ivory Coast,” Broos added.
“We were asking for a crowd and with such a performance you can’t ask for a crowd. You can’t ask people to come to the stadium to watch that type of football.
“You have to win the crowd and you don’t do it with a performance like we showed Eswatini.”
