South Africa coach blasts Bafana players after draw with Minnows Eswatini

Head coach of South Africa’s Bafana Bafana Hugo Broos has blasted his players for their disappointing performance in Friday’s 0-0 draw with minnows Eswatini.

According to Broos, Bafana Bafana showed no passion and fighting spirit in what he said was the team’s worst performance since he took over the team in 2021.

“There were many feelings that I went through during and after the game,” Broos was quoted on Times Live.

“Those of frustration and anger because I didn’t believe what I saw in the first and second half. I think in the first half we had one chance to score and I am saying this with all respect to Eswatini.

“We were lucky that we played against a team of that level, otherwise it could have been a disaster. 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 good against Morocco. It’s unbelievable that four or five months ago we saw this team play against Liberia.”

Broos said he told the players to look in the mirror and take responsibility.

“You can’t believe your eyes where you saw 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. We know it was bad but on Tuesday we must take our revenge against Ivory Coast. 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.”

Up next for Bafana Bafana is a high profile friendly game against hosts of next year’s AFCON Côte d’Ivoire on Tuesday.

The game is billed for the Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium in Abidjan.

Bafana Bafana are in the same group with Nigeria’s Super Eagles for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Other teams in the group are Zimbabwe, Benin Republic, Lesotho and Rwanda.