Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has hailed the team behind the team for putting in long hours and shifts to help the players finish in third place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Broos and his team arrived at OR Tambo on Wednesday morning, bringing a bronze medal and Fair Play award back home to South Africa.
Bafana surprised many at the tournament, eliminating Africa’s highest-ranked team Morocco in the Last-16 before moving past Cape Verde in the quarter-final, only to lose on penalties to Nigeria in the semi.
Broos, who collected a second medal after winning the 2017 AFCON with Cameroon, has deservedly been in the limelight but also insisted the success of the team is also based on the hard work of the team behind the team – people who are not usually in the limelight.
“I also want to thank the stuff, and what I mean by this is – you know when you achieve something like this now, third place, people are talking about the coach, people are talking about the players, but nobody talks about all those other people who worked day and night nearly for four to five weeks,” he told SAFA Media.
“I’m talking about the medical stuff. Those people were working until 1 o’clock in the morning to get the players in good shape again, to give massages, to give treatment. They were always there for the players.
“Without them, we wouldn’t [have] achieved our success. Even the kit manager, the security manager and you Romy [Titus, Bafana Media Officer], you were part of what we did. Without you, we wouldn’t have done it.
“So it’s work of a whole team, a whole team that I ask I remember on the first day of the camp, I said ‘I just want one thing that is that everybody works for the good of that team’ and they did it.
“And I think that is one of the reasons why we achieved that fantastic third place. Again, a happy coach, a proud coach and I thank everybody for that.”
