Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos hit back at those questioning his selection of Evidence Makgopa, who he believes can develop into an elite striker.
Makgopa scored his first goal at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in his fourth start as they beat Africa’s number one ranked team Morocco in the last-16 of the competition.
It set up a tie with Cape Verde in the quarter-finals, while Angola or Nigeria will be awaiting the winner of the tie in Yamousokkro in the semi-finals .
When asked about the influence of Man of the Match Teboho Mokoena by iDiski Times in the post-match press conference, Broos slightly deviated in his response, perhaps not understanding the question but raising a pertinent point on the much-maligned forward.
“I think I said at the beginning of AFCON, that it’s very important that you can grow in a tournament, and I think South Africa has grown into this tournament, we played against Mali and lost, then the match of Namibia [we won], a difficult match of Tunisia [a draw], the game against Morocco [we won],” he said.
“So every day or every match we got better and better, so that’s very important, I think I gave the example of the Germans before, they always playing not so well in the beginning and when they started and the motor was going on, it went easier for them.
“We have players as you said, Themba Zwane, two times Man of the Match, today it’s Teboho, it means we’re playing good as a team, that we also have players who can make a difference, this is important.
“Today, a fantastic free-kick from Teboho, a nice goal from Makgopa and those who doubted him when he was with us – Makgopa! I always believed in Makgopa. Always! If you work with this guy he can become a very good striker. Believe me. He proved it, he works hard, and he scored a fantastic goal.”
South Africa take on the West Africans at the Stade Charles Konan Banny de Yamoussoukro on Saturday evening at 22h00.
