Opinion: If Bafana Can’t Beat Liberia Tomorrow, Hugo Broos Has To Go

If Bafana Bafana cannot pick up maximum points against Liberia in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in Monrovia on Tuesday, coach Hugo Broos has to go, writes Robin-Duke Madlala.

If not, no disrespect to the players, but do you think he can help us beat Morocco in June in Mzansi in the last qualifying match – the nation that has beaten Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Brazil recently – as all are in the top 10 in the FIFA rankings? I don’t think so. 

As I watched the game on my TV on Thursday, it was a total embarrassment to draw against Liberia after Bafana cruised in the first half with a two-goal lead by Lyle Foster.

I expected Bafana would increase the score-line in the second half, they didn’t and who is to blame for that? It’s Hugo Broos.     

Broos’ changes in the second half were bad and as much as Themba Zwane looked tired, unsurprisedly so after a long toiling season with his club Mamelodi Sundowns, he should have kept him in the game because he was striking fear.

But he surprisingly took Zwane off in the 70th minute and replaced him with Sphephelo Sithole, who was making his fourth appearance for Bafana Bafana. Okay, it was a defensive midfield change for an attacking midfielder, but the former is very inexperienced at this level.

That change happened two minutes after Liberia had pulled one back. Of course, Broos’ intentions were to shut up the shop, but what he desired turned out to be a disaster.

It was fine to take off Foster, who impressively, has scored all three Bafana goals in these qualifiers, and looked to have left it all there.

Bongokuhle Hlongwane looked poor on the left-hand side of the front three and replacing him with Monnapule Saleng was the right call, but the Orlando Pirates winger then selfishly took the ball away from on-form and rising star Cassius Mailula when they were on the attack and then scuffed his shot afterwards, much to the disappointment of myself and many others.   

Many felt Saleng should have allowed Mailula to go on his own, and that you cannot blame Broos for. But the former Cameroon coach should have handled the game better with his changes, knowing he had Miguel Timm and Grant Kekana on the bench. At the end, Broos got his substitutions wrong and has to apportion the blame.

As I have mentioned at the top, if Bafana cannot win against Liberia on Tuesday, Broos has to go. Liberia has won just one AFCON qualifying match away in 17 years, against Djibouti in 2016.

The draw with Bafana was just their second since drawing Namibia in June 2012 in that period.

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Liberia is a nation that has qualified for two AFCON finals – in 1996 in South Africa and 2002 in Mali, picking up just one win in their history.

If such a nation would be able to beat Bafana at Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium (18:00), what are the good reasons to keep Broos?

I have said or suggested before that Bafana should be coached by an interim local coach or follow what DR Congo did with Florence Ibenge who was the coach of Vita Club was also in charge of his country.

It yielded a result as he brought Congo an AFCON bronze medal in 2015 in Equatorial Guinea.  

At this stage, as I’m craving every ounce of success to see Bafana qualify for the AFCON finals, Rulani Mokwena, who has yet to suffer a loss since he was appointed by the all-conquering Sundowns in October, should take over on an interim basis because we need help, and any help to that matter to halt this embarrassment we have become on the continent. 

It has been painful enough and this avoidable pain has to stop.  

Column by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).