South Africa coach Hugo Broos celebrated World Cup qualification on Tuesday after the 3-0 win over Rwanda in Nelspruit ensured top place in the group.
Here is what he had to say after the last game in Group C where South Africa finished one point ahead of Nigeria and Benin:
On his feelings after qualifying for the World Cup: “This is really a fantastic evening for everyone. This is not only for the coach. I'm part of it. This is a team who worked for the last three years to have all those performances and nice moments. I can't forget my staff, because they helped me a lot, especially Helman (Mkhalele). You all know that I like him very much. So without him, we couldn't achieve that. But it's not only my staff. It's also the medical staff who work day and night to have the players ready to do big performances, the kit manager, the security manager, the team manager. We are a bunch of people who have only one goal, and that is doing good performances and winning things. And I think this is not work for me alone. I insist also to (highlight) what the players did in the last three years.”
On the players he has picked: “I know you (the media) do not always agree with the choices I made, and I said already that I make them on different criteria than you do. For me, it's important to have a player with quality, first of all, a player with the right mentality. Secondly, a player who can do what I ask him, and till now, I always succeed to do it, even if you thought that this one, or that one, also needed a chance. It's not like this that you build a team. It's not like this that you have performances. You need a plan, and you need to stick with the plan, because you know that it is the right way. And this is what we did in the last three years. This is fantastic, not only for us as coach or player but for all the nation. I heard somebody saying on the pitch after the game, everybody laughed at Bafana Bafana, we were a joke. And now we are there (at the World Cup). We are on a high level, and everybody respects us. And this, again, is not only my work. So at last, I think that this is something that this nation needed -- a different way to look at football, a different way to judge players.”
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On progress for South Africa: “I really hope that in December, at Afcon, we will try to do as well as the last one… hopefully even better. But I hope that with all those high-level tournaments, and certainly next year in America, with the World Cup, that players will have the opportunity to go to higher competitions, because they deserve it first of all, and they need it also. And if we can make that step in the future, you will see that South Africa will be getting even better than they are already now. So again, don't ask me what my emotions are for the moment. I don't have words for that. I hope that the player who was in the squad should go to America. For me, it's a sentimental reason. You all know that I was already in a World Cup at the end of my career as a player, and now I do it again. I think this is the right moment, next year after the World Cup, to stop my career and to go to my family and enjoy the next 20 years with my grandchildren and my children. But first of all, there is some work to do and we will try to do it well.”
On the mood in the Bafana squad: “When you work with a group for three years, you know that group, you know everything about that group. You know how they will react when there is success. You know how they will react when there is no success. And you know last Friday, we got an uppercut (when South Africa were held to a draw by Zimbabwe). And if you asked anyone of us on Friday after the game if we would qualify for the World Cup, I don’t think you’d find many who said yes, because suddenly the situation was not good for us. But then you see on Saturday, we have a little training, recovery training, and you see, immediately the jokes are there again, the laughs are there again. They motivate each other, ‘we didn't lose it, there is still a chance.’ And then, I have to praise myself also. I had to get them to believe that it’s possible. And I think I succeeded in that. But you need a good group for that. I can talk and shout as much as I want, if those guys are not ready to do it, then everything stops. And this is the good work that we had, between me and them, and between them and me. We trust each other, we have confidence in each other, and then you get a game like today that from the first minute that everyone saw … ah, they are going to win today. So, yeah, it's fantastic. And I said it already before that, for a coach, when you feel that you have a group like that, you can only be proud.”
On using young players: “It's normal that I cannot give them a starting position in the team, so you have to bring them on easily and at the right moment. And I think today it was the right moment, even if it was only three minutes or five minutes, but they tasted the atmosphere, and they tasted the group spirit. I wouldn’t have given them a chance if I hadn’t seen at training how they behave themselves. If I can take the example of Shabba (Mduduzi Shabalala), he wanted to prove himself in training and this is what I want you to see. (Ashley) Cupido came. He didn't ask questions. The coach called and he was there. I told him when he arrived (at the camp on the eve of the game), we will see if Lyle (Foster) is ready. If so then you will be on the stands. But if Lyle is not ready, (Evidence) Makgopa will play and you will be on the bench. And he said, ‘No problem. I'm so happy that I'm here’. And with such guys, you can work because they like to come. They don't have conditions to come. ‘But am I playing or whatever?’ No, ‘the coach called me. The national team wants me’. Then from my side, I have to give them confidence, and I have to let them feel okay. ‘Hey, I appreciate that you are here. I appreciate what you did in training’. I think it was the right moment to do it.
On the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations finals: “I can say already now that the next Afcon will be totally different than the Afcon two years ago, because everybody knows South Africa now. When we went to Afcon, there were many people who were asking themselves, ‘what are they going to do in Afcon with those players?’ But we did it. Now, from the first game, we will have opponents who will be 150% motivated because they want to beat South Africa. So we have to be prepared and we will prepare ourselves for that. It was nice two years ago. You can be sure, and you can believe me, I want the same thing, and if it's possible more, but it is still a game of football, and you can play well and lose a game, or maybe not be in the best shape at the right moment. This is something you don't have under control, but it will be different for all of us. And if we can make that step again, and then we go to the World Cup, I think it will not be a long time before South Africa will be at the top of Africa, and this is something we have to try to achieve, because this nation was too long behind, and nobody had any respect for this team or for this country. I think this has changed now.”