Legendary Bafana Bafana striker Mark Williams is concerned that assistant coach Helman Mkhalele is not enforcing things to coach Hugo Broos on the bench, saying his former national teammate is not vocal enough.
Williams was speaking before Bafana Bafana kicked off their AFCON campaign this week, which began on Tuesday as they lost 2-0 to Mali.
Mkhalele, as part of Bafana national assistant coach, time and time again on the bench doesn’t appear to bark instructions to the players and reticently sits on the bench throughout the game and seems to only talk to Broos when the Belgium coach is near him.
Williams says people may not see what he is saying now, but that makes a huge difference in the national team.
“I was wondering why he [Broos] is not talking to Helman in games; those are the things that make a team click,” said Williams.
“Because understand what the job is – from the coach to the players. Okay, he [Broos] is no longer speaking French, but speaks English but the mentality is not the same.
“I have seen players coming from South Africa, who went overseas and couldn’t make it. Do you know why? Not because they were not good enough, it is because they couldn’t understand the language.
“If you have a guy like Helman who doesn’t say anything or maybe he goes and talks to the players, then [that is the problem].”
Williams, who was with Mkhalele when Bafana won the AFCON trophy in 1996, is also not sure if Mamelodi Sundowns players will have the same hunger they have at the club level because they have won almost everything – but nothing in the national team.
Sundowns, who won the African Football League in November, have 10 players in this Bafana squad, more than any other club from the PSL.
Williams said they deserve to be there because they have done well at their club, but his main concern is hunger.
“I just think that the 10 Sundowns players that are selected, yes, they deserve it because they are on form,” said Williams.
“It doesn’t matter if you must put 22 players of Sundowns, they have been winning everything. But I’m looking at Stellenbosch [who only have Jayden Adams in the national team], there is something for me he can mix and match.
“Because the salaries that Sundowns get and the salaries that Stellenbosch players get are not the same.
“But I’m worried about their hunger – the Sundowns players because they have been winning things.”
