By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@SAFA.
Belgian mentor Hugo Broos has finally arrived in South Africa to assume his role as head coach of Bafana Bafana.
Broos landed at the OR Tambo International Airport on Monday night.
He was welcomed by SAFA president Dr Danny Jordaan and technical committee deputy chairperson Bhudha Mathathe.
Broos,69 will bring his own assistant to the country but is set to have input on the appointment of a second coach – set to be a South African – who will assist him on the bench‚ as he attempts to rebuild the ailing national team.
He will have to rebuild the national team‚ and attempt to qualify for and be competitive at the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar‚ the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)‚ and the 2026 World Cup in the US‚ Mexico and Canada as proposed goals.
“South Africa has a rich football history and is among the powerhouse on the continent. The country has full of quality and I am coming to coach a truly football nation with massive potential,” said Broos.
“My focus will be to weave in new players who have hunger and desire to achieve things. Young players are ambitious and want to prove a point. I need to start from there because I want to build a strong Bafana Bafana side for the future,” he added.
The coach’s targets will be resolved when Broos sits down with Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe this week.
The job became vacant after Molefi Ntseki was shown the door following Bafana’s failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon next year.
Broos at least has some breathing space to put together his first squad‚ as the Confederation of African Football (Caf) postponed the kickoff of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers from early June to September.
He was going to have very little time to deliver his first squad before Bafana’s opening 2022 World Cup Group G qualifier against Zimbabwe in Harare, as the match was originally supposed to be played on the weekend of June 5 to 6.
But then Caf announced that the start of Africa’s qualifiers has been postponed to September.
Broos won the 2017 Total Africa Cup of Nations title with Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions in Gabon. He guided the likes of Club Brugge, Anderlecht, Genk (Belgium), Trabzonspor (Turkey) and JS Kabylie and NA Dey (Algeria).