Uganda national team coach Paul Put has hailed Bafana Bafana‘s progress under the stewardship of Hugo Broos.
Broos has been in charge of the senior men’s national team of South Africa for close to three-and-a-half years and took over after their failure to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations after losing to minnows Sudan.
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Since then, he’s led South Africa to third place at the 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast and in a strong position for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
“I think Hugo Broos has been doing a great job,” Broos told iDiski Times on the eve of their clash with Uganda.
“It’s also in a good situation if you have the confidence of the Federation, so it was a contract for five years, so it means South Africa is thinking long-term.
“I’ve played in a final with Burkina Faso, in South Africa, so I know very well the football culture in South Africa. Normally, they take coaches for long-term. If you have long-term, you have vision.
“If you have a vision, you can work, so I think Hugo has been doing a great job performing with the team. So, I think he’s in a comfortable situation, so that’s important and it’s the most delicate case in African countries.
“You have a coach for one or two years then it’s like this… but if you can work with a long-term vision, how Hugo has been proving with the team, with great results and good football. I was very surprised to see how well they played at AFCON in Ivory Coast,” Put added.
The 68-year-old Belgian mentor went on to suggest that it won’t be a two-horse race between Bafana and the Cranes for the top two spots to qualify for the AFCON in Morocco next year.
“I think it’s a group that’s very tight,” he said
“And you know in football, African football, you never know, as you said, it’s not won on paper, so don’t underestimate South Sudan, don’t underestimate Congo [Brazzaville],” he said.
“They can compete with a good team, with players in foreign competitions at a good level, so we won’t underestimate any team in our group. I think it’s a very tight group.”
The two sides meet in their Group K opener at Orlando Stadium at 18h00.
Story by Lorenz Kohler (@Lorenz_KO).
