Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says Hugo Broos’ loyalty to players is admirable ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Broos named 10 Sundowns players in his final 23-man squad heading to the Ivory Coast next month with a clear influence on the national team over recent months.
Mokwena said it’s a testament to the incredible work the club has done in terms of profiling and recruiting the right talent while also sharing some praise for the 2017 AFCON-winning coach for ignoring the outside noise around his squad selections.
“Firstly I must congratulate the club because it means we’re recruiting the right talent and it’s the club who does that. it’s not me, I don’t buy players, it’s the club’s players and they belong to the club,” Mokwena said.
“You have to give credit to the club, secondly credit to the players because there’s a lot of similar stories. Themba Zwane – the coach had written him off and said he’s too old but he didn’t go to the media and make a hoo-hah, he allowed his performances to speak for him.
“Today, he is one of the most important Bafana players, Sailor Mudau, the coach was resisting and resisting – what happened? He’s in the national team. So as a young coach, I looked at Hugo Broos and I learned two things…
“The first thing I learned is that you can always change your mind, wise people change their minds, but it’s the performances that need to speak for you so you change your mind and the second thing is loyalty.
“You see how loyal Hugo Broos is? You guys can make all the noise you want, but Nyiko Mobbie will be there, he’s loyal, very, very loyal. He’s loyal to the players who are loyal to him and I think modern-day society, not just football lacks these soft skills and values.”
Mokwena went on to state that many could heed the Belgian’s example and stated Sundowns are pedantic and meticulous when signing players as they look to maintain squad harmony and professionalism for further success.
“You can see he is very old school, he says things as they are and sometimes people don’t like it because he’s brutally honest. But honesty, loyalty and respect are values that modern society has gone without.
“People are surprised when someone is honest or loyal – people are surprised when someone is respectful it’s crazy how the world is at the moment and it’s a very sad state of affairs, that’s why when you play [or join] Sundowns you need to be a good human being first, that’s the first discussion, are you a good person which we look at and follow.
“We check your friends, influences and we look behind, we check because we don’t want bad people in our space.”
Bafana are set to start camp on 4 January in the Western Cape at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport (SAS).
