Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has hailed his analysis staff saying they did a great job in preparation for the group A encounter against South Korea and how Relebohile Mofokeng was brought in to cause the opposition problems.
Broos’ side defeated the Asians 1-0 in the pool decider in Monterrey on Thursday to advance to the round of 32 for the very time in Bafana’s history.
The match was also the first time the 21 year old attacker started at a World Cup having come on as a sub in the 1-1 draw against Czechia in Atlanta last week.
The 74-year-old Belgian said he wasn’t surprised by anything the Koreans did because the analysts covered all the areas in their work and that it also helped that Mofokeng was a key weapon in Bafana’s solutions posed by the opposition.
“You know, it’s always very important to have good analysts when you have to analyse a team, and today I saw a South Korean team what I expected,” said Broos after the game in a presser carried on #PrimeSportsWithMahlatse.
“It’s a team who has much speed in the team. It’s a team who runs a lot. It’s a team who try to find space behind the defense and we knew that. But we also know that we can recuperate the ball, that we have space and that’s why I think we played a very good tactical game today.”
“So, when the Koreans had the ball, we tried to cover all the spaces. I think we succeeded very good, but when we had the ball, it was dangerous for them, because we used the spaces also that they gave us. We have the players who can find those spaces.”
‘We have Mofokeng’
Broos also hailed the impact of Mofokeng, saying the Orlando Pirates talisman is able to play passes others won’t be able to.
“And we have today also a player Mofokeng who can give those passes and play between the lines. And this is, I think, the reason why we could win today against South Korea,” he added.
“At the end of the game, you’re desperate when you’re 1-0 down, you want to equalise because that means that you should be qualified for the next round.
“So that we knew also that those balls would come, so we took a very good position in that, and there was nearly not a dangerous, really dangerous opportunity for South Korea to equalise.
“So, again, I think we were today maybe a little bit better tacticaly than South Korea.”