Broos admits he thought of quitting
February 13, 2024
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has admitted that he came close to quitting his role at the helm of the national side after some bad results and a ton of criticism rained down on him in 2022.
Speaking to the media in the aftermath of Bafana’s bronze-medal campaign at the African Cup of Nations Broos said it was a particularly dark time after his charges were thrashed 5-0 by France in March 2022.
“Yes, I thought about quitting, because after the game against Morocco away [where Bafana lost 2-1 in an Afcon qualifier] I went home for five weeks and spoke to my former assistant coach in Belgium.
“We spoke about what we were going to do, but I didn’t want to quit.
“There was something that said to me, ‘Go now when everything is negative and there is nothing good,’ but there was also a voice that said, ‘Go on.’
“The voice said, ‘Believe in what you believe in because it will happen,’ and it happened, but I was close to quitting.”
“I came to South Africa with something in my mind, but from the beginning, I couldn’t understand why, in a country such as this, there was something that was not normal with the results of the national team.
“This is a country that has to show better results than what they showed over the last 10 years.
“I thought, and I was sure, that there was potential in South Africa, but I didn’t know much about South African football, and I needed time.
“But once you start and see that it is possible you come to South Africa to play Afcon and qualify for the World Cup and we were close to reaching the 2022 World Cup.
“But after France and Morocco, I was thinking about quitting because the criticism was too much.
“What people said was too much, but I have always been a winner and I wanted to leave South Africa with something.
“Then suddenly everything falls in the right place, you start winning, qualify for Afcon, the players start to believe.
“You win against Morocco in the last group game and suddenly there is a belief that maybe we can do something.
“My relationship with the players is good, their relationship with me is very good, and this is the basis of good results,” he said.
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Broos admits he thought of quitting
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has admitted that he came close to quitting his role at the helm of the national side after some bad results and a ton of criticism rained down on him in 2022.
Speaking to the media in the aftermath of Bafana’s bronze-medal campaign at the African Cup of Nations Broos said it was a particularly dark time after his charges were thrashed 5-0 by France in March 2022.
“Yes, I thought about quitting, because after the game against Morocco away [where Bafana lost 2-1 in an Afcon qualifier] I went home for five weeks and spoke to my former assistant coach in Belgium.
“We spoke about what we were going to do, but I didn’t want to quit.
“There was something that said to me, ‘Go now when everything is negative and there is nothing good,’ but there was also a voice that said, ‘Go on.’
“The voice said, ‘Believe in what you believe in because it will happen,’ and it happened, but I was close to quitting.”
“I came to South Africa with something in my mind, but from the beginning, I couldn’t understand why, in a country such as this, there was something that was not normal with the results of the national team.
“This is a country that has to show better results than what they showed over the last 10 years.
“I thought, and I was sure, that there was potential in South Africa, but I didn’t know much about South African football, and I needed time.
“But once you start and see that it is possible you come to South Africa to play Afcon and qualify for the World Cup and we were close to reaching the 2022 World Cup.
“But after France and Morocco, I was thinking about quitting because the criticism was too much.
“What people said was too much, but I have always been a winner and I wanted to leave South Africa with something.
“Then suddenly everything falls in the right place, you start winning, qualify for Afcon, the players start to believe.
“You win against Morocco in the last group game and suddenly there is a belief that maybe we can do something.
“My relationship with the players is good, their relationship with me is very good, and this is the basis of good results,” he said.