Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says results is more important than style of play ahead of facing Morocco in the last-16 of the Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa played an impressive brand of football against Mali but came out with a 2-0 loss before altering their tactics against Namibia and Tunisia, which secured the four points to finish second in Group E in Korhogo.
It set up a last-16 tie against the North African giants in San Pedro and ahead of the game he was asked with all the Mamelodi Sundowns players dominating his squad, why they haven’t replicated their style of play which has earned plaudits around Africa.
“It’s very simple, you’re playing at the highest level, and this is for us, it’s new, it’s a new experience, we never played at this level. So this is maybe why you tell me we don’t really show a good playing style,” Broos responded to Moroccan media.
“But you know in AFCON, there’s one important thing; the next game, so how you play is not important, the result is important and we tried in our three previous games, with three different ways to get results.
“We didn’t succeed against Mali playing a good game, Namibia we won and Tunisia we got what we needed, as we wanted to be here [in the last 16] and now we want to be [in the quarter-final], so tomorrow you will see how we play.
“Again, it’s not important if everyone says ‘wow, you played very good’, I’d prefer them to say ‘oh wow, they are in the next round’.”
Broos then defended his stance by saying Morocco has not shown their best brand of football either en route to the knockout stages, saying it simply doesn’t matter how you play.
“It’s not a matter of good play, it’s a tournament, and the only thing that is important is going into the next round – and if a team is not playing at their next level, it’s not something to think maybe they will lose,” Broos said about Morocco.
“If I talk about Morocco, with those players, the quality they have – maybe tomorrow they dominate us from the first to 90 minutes, you will never know – and then again, getting to the next round is the most important for Morocco.”
South Africa takes on the Atlas Lions at Le Stade Laurent Poukou tomorrow at 22h00.
