Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos endured mixed emotions during the first leg of the back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Congo Brazzaville.
Bafana hammered Congo 5-0 at a buzzing Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Friday night to take a step closer to the 2025 Afcon finals.
Teboho Mokoena led the charge. The Mamelodi Sundowns out-of-favour midfielder scoring a brace before Bathusi Aubaas, Lyle Foster and Iqraam completed the rout.
This victory saw Bafana only needing a win away in Brazzaville on Tuesday to ensure they return to the biggest stage on the continent in Morocco next year.
And with this being his biggest win since taking over the reins three-and-a-half years ago, Broos admitted he was lost for words to describe the resounding performance.
“It makes me a little bit speechless because what else can you say besides being positive and proud? I have never felt like this on the bench during a game,” he said.
The victory did bring serious palpitations for the 72-year-old Belgian though. There were chances that Bafana could have lost the game completely, albeit the scoreline reading in their favour.
The celebrations of both Mokoena’s goals in the first half were muddied by pitch invasions, resulting in referee Beida Dahane halting play for safety reasons.
The Mauritanian-born whistleblower suspended play for more than 10 minutes after the second incident, needing Safa and the sport ministry to deploy heavy security to avert future incidents.
According to the laws of the game related to pitch invasions, referees have the right to call off play and award the opposition team a 3-0 walkover-win if they feel it’s reached fever-pitch.
And so, when match commissioner, Timothy Shongwe, told Broos, they’d lose the game if the fans didn’t stop invading the pitch, he was worried of what’d happen when they returned to action.
“After 20 minutes there is a break, and I was afraid because we had momentum, and you never know what happens after the break,” Broos said.
“But from the first second we were again in the game, also in the second half. Every time we scored, I looked at the crowd to see if there was no other one who wanted to run onto the pitch.”
Bafana have been on an upward trajectory recently and are slowly becoming one with their fans again, having also had a buzzing crowd in Bloemfontein and Orlando in the last two games.
And so when Broos entered the Nelson Mandela Bay, he was pleased to see the crowd, but he was utterly disappointed that his bosses at Safa didn’t prepare enough security for the occasion.
“I was very happy to see the crowd when I came in,” Broos said. “But I was not so happy after 20 minutes because we’d (been forced to) stop the game, and that’d have been a disaster.
“I think in the future, and it is not up to us as coaches, but I must ask Safa, that when they choose a stadium that they are sure of the security of the stadium.
“I can’t understand that before the break, I saw 10 security guys, for example, but after the break there were suddenly 50. Where were they from the beginning of the game?
“We are playing a very important game, and you could have had problems because there are two young kids, young kids, with all the enthusiasm and happiness – they run onto the field.”
Before Bafana’s resurgence, the team and the fans were like distant cousins – only connected by past generations, and didn’t have physical interactions.
Broos pleaded with the fans to come out in numbers, and rally behind the team at the stadium as their presence as the 12th man will continue to give them a much-needed boost.
That wish has been duly heeded by the fans lately, given Bafana’s exploits as well. But Broos has reiterated that Safa needs to be hands on deck.
“If you want a crowd, be prepared because such things can happen, and the security must be there for everyone,” Broos said.
“Security must be there for us and for the referees. Just imagine if the fans ran onto the pitch and there were fools who attacked Congo players.
“Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again and Safa prepares better for a game like this. I want the crowd, but it must be with good security.”