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After the South <a href="https://absafricatv.com/africa-cdc-chief-pressures-us-to-drop-uganda-ebola-travel-ban/” title=”Africa CDC Chief Pressures US to Drop Uganda Ebola Travel Ban”>Africa Football Association (Safa) is understood to have offered coach Hugo Broos a one-year contract extension, legendary Bafana Bafana defender Mark Fish says keeping the 74-year-old Belgian would be understandable.
With the qualifiers for next year’s Pamoja Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania starting in September, Fish said it would make sense for Safa to keep Broos for another year, reckoning the players fancy their chances of winning the next Afcon under him.
“We are in a situation where we all thought he was leaving and now he’s staying. I do understand why they want him to stay if they want to push for Afcon,” Fish told Sowetan.
“At the end of the day, it’s Safa’s decision. To carry on with the continuity we have had, it would make sense for him to stay going into the Afcon.
“I think the players feel the experience of the World Cup has given them more confidence and exposure and they can probably win the Afcon.”
Broos, who joined in May 2021, saw his five-year Bafana contract lapse at the end of the recent World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada, where Bafana reached the competition’s knockout phase for the first time, crashing out in the round of 32 at the hands of one of the hosts, Canada, in Atlanta.
Let’s not talk about speculation. I will issue an official statement. I previously told you to give us space. We are going to deal with the process of hiring a new coach. These other things we don’t know
— Jack Maluleke, Safa technical committee chair
Sowetan understands Safa has tabled a one-year extension for Broos, despite him telling his native Belgian publication Voetbalnieuws that he was leaving the team a few weeks ago.
Perhaps an indication that Safa will convince Broos to continue, when Bafana returned from the World Cup the Belgian made it clear he’d be open to take up another role within Safa.
Should Broos stay, the Safa technical committee would end up with egg on its face as it was finalising the process of appointing a new coach, with Pitso Mosimane believed to have been the leading candidate.
Quizzed about the recent development regarding Broos’s possible stay, Safa technical committee chairperson Jack Maluleke, who previously told a Sunday publication Mosimane had applied for the job, said he would issue an official statement.
“Let’s not talk about speculation. I will issue an official statement. I previously told you to give us space. We are going to deal with the process of hiring a new coach. These other things we don’t know,” Maluleke said.
Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao was not reached for comment.
