Hugo Broos rose above South Africa’s problems to reach World Cup last 32

H ugo Broos, South Africa’s Belgian head coach, deserves a significant share of the credit for Bafana Bafana reaching the World Cup knockout stages for the first time in their rather chequered history. The country had been absent from the tournament since they hosted it in 2010 and participated only twice before that, in 1998 and 2002. A wave of unbridled excitement was triggered when Broos ended the long wait to qualify. “The question I always asked myself is: ‘Why is South Africa not a dominating country in Africa?’” Broos said in a recent radio interview. “When I came here, I had a plan. I kept the plan till the end, till the results were there, because I knew that was the way to do it.” Given that he plans to leave the job – and coaching – after the World Cup, the 74-year-old is fortunate to experience a career finale that came quite close to not happening as a result of a self-inflicted qualification wound by the South African Football Association (Safa). South Africa head coach Hugo Broos, second from left, gets hugged by his players after the 1-0 win against South Korea. Photograph: Sofia Yaker/AP The midfielder Teboho Mokoena, man of the match in South Africa’s second game against Czechia and back after suspension for Sunday’s last-32 tie against the co-hosts Canada, nearly cost his country their place. He was fielded in a qualifier against Lesotho despite being suspended as a consequence of two yellow cards, prompting Fifa to dock South Africa three points. …