Can Hugo Broos fix Bafana Bafana’s broken compass before the World Cup?

The silence under the stands of the Agdal Medina Stadium in Rabat wasn’t the kind you’d call peaceful. It was the heavy, suffocating quiet that follows a missed opportunity. 

When Hugo Broos finally sat down before the press on the evening of 4 January, the exhaustion of the last few weeks in Morocco was written all over his face. Bafana Bafana’s Belgian coach didn’t bring excuses; instead, he brought a warning.

“We will make a detailed evaluation in the upcoming days and weeks,” he said, speaking in a composed voice despite the 2-1 round of 16 exit at the hands of Cameroon. “We will see what we need to change and what not to change. In six months, there is the World Cup and we need to be ready.”

For a coach who has often been his players’ shield, the “chilling promise” of an evaluation suggests that the period of grace has officially expired. 

South Africa arrived in Morocco as bronze-medal darlings; they left as a side struggling with a tactical identity crisis and a glaring physical deficit. 

With the 2026 Fifa World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the USA, looming in June, Bafana Bafana find themselves at a crucial turning point: are they the rising giants of 2024 or the tactical experiments of 2025 gone wrong?

The Broos gamble that backfired

The post-mortem of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) begins with the shock of the team sheet in Rabat. Broos, usually a creature of habit, abandoned his trusted blueprints. He handed tournament debuts to Samkele Kabini, Nkosinathi Sibisi, Relebohile Mofokeng and Bathusi Aubaas in a knockout game, a move that left many pundits reeling.

The shift to a 3-4-2-1 formation was intended to provide defensive firmness but it unintentionally strangled the team’s natural attacking rhythm. By dropping Aubrey Modiba for the Norway-based Kabini, Broos lost the overlapping threat that often unlocks stubborn African defences. While the “double pivot” of Teboho Mokoena and Aubaas offered protection, it left the frontline isolated.

However, the numbers don’t lie. Despite early chances squandered by Lyle Foster and a distraught Mofokeng, Bafana lacked the sustained offensive pressure required to rattle the Indomitable Lions. The loss followed a stuttering group stage where unconvincing wins over Angola and Zimbabwe masked deeper flaws.

The ‘Europe’ Problem: A widening gap

Beyond the whiteboard, a harsher reality has emerged. Broos pointed to a fundamental disadvantage: the lack of South African players in elite European leagues.

“When you see all those teams we played, they are teams with players who play in Europe—we don’t have that,” Broos lamented upon the team’s return to OR Tambo International Airport. 

He cited Cameroon’s 19-year-old Bayer Leverkusen striker as the gold standard. “The level of the PSL, compared to the level we faced in the last weeks, is a gap that is very big. You can only make that gap smaller when you have players who are playing in very difficult conditions.”

It’s a view reiterated by former AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martin, now based in Morocco. Martin observed that while Bafana’s “Spanish-style” short-passing game is aesthetically pleasing, it often shatters against the “vertical” physicality of West and North African giants.

“They were loyal to their principles,” Martin noted. “But they faced opponents who were more physical. That was the key to the game.”

Resonances of 1996: The need for ‘Big Guns’

For legends like Doctor Khumalo, the failure in Morocco wasn’t just tactical; it was atmospheric. Khumalo, who described the post-match dressing room as “sounding like a funeral,” believes the South African Football Association (Safa) is failing to provide the mental and administrative scaffolding necessary for success.

“We need people outside the camp whom these boys know,” Khumalo urged. “We don’t want the position of being the CEO or president; we just need to be around. We always wait for an incident that will look bad, then we start reflecting. We don’t just send those young boys out in the jungle without the protection of the big guns.”

Khumalo’s critique highlights a perceived disconnect between the current squad and its heritage of winning. He argues that while the Springboks have mastered the art of “legend-integration” and psychological strength, Bafana remain isolated, prone to “body language” that betrays their nerves when the stakes rise.

With the 2026 Fifa World Cup kick-off at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico on June 11, the clock is ticking. Bafana have been drawn in Group A alongside co-hosts Mexico, South Korea and a European qualifier. The luxury of “learning by mistake” is gone.

Neil Tovey, the man who lifted the 1996 trophy, has called for an end to “half-measures” in preparation. He is adamant that Safa must stop scheduling “comfortable” friendlies against Council of Southern Africa Football Associations neighbours like Zambia or Lesotho.

“You have to make sure it is not local friendlies,” Tovey insisted. “We know Mexico plays in a certain way, so go and play against South Americans — Colombians, Chileans, Ecuador. To prepare for South Korea, play against Japan. High-intensity friendlies, not our neighbours, please.”

Tovey’s logic is simple. Fifa pays hundreds of millions to qualified nations. That money must be allocated to a brutal, high-level preparation camp that emulates the intensity of the World Cup.

The legacy of Hugo Broos

Despite the heartbreak in Morocco, the “Broos era” still serves as a net positive for South African football. Before the 73-year-old Belgian arrived in 2021, Bafana was a side defined by apathy. Stadiums were empty and qualification was a coin toss.

Today, Broos is Bafana’s longest-serving head coach, surpassing Clive Barker. He has restored a sense of pride, filled stadiums and achieved the primary goal: returning South Africa to the international arena. Even his harshest critics cannot deny that he has built a stable foundation.

“People only start talking when there is a defeat,” Broos said dismissively of those calling for his head. “I’ve coached for nearly 40 years … I’m not on social media.”

The verdict: A six-month sprint

The 2025 Afcon was a cold shower for a nation that had begun to believe its own hype. It revealed that “combination play” is not enough to overcome the sheer force and game plan precision of the world’s best.

To avoid a three-and-out embarrassment in North America, the “detailed evaluation” Broos promised must be ruthless. It may mean moving on from sentimental favourites and blooding more youngsters like Mofokeng, but with a more rigid tactical backbone. 

It means Safa must stop acting like a minor federation and start behaving like a World Cup participant.

South Africa is no longer simply happy to be there. The fans, the legends and the coach himself now demand more. The “funeral” in the Rabat dressing room must serve as the birth of a stronger Bafana. If not, the trip to Mexico City in June will be very short.