CAPE TOWN - Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes Safa does not support South African coaches in the same way they do foreigners after Belgian Hugo Broos was appointed Bafana Bafana’s latest mentor.
It is well-known that Safa had approached Mngqithi’s former boss Pitso Mosimane to replace the sacked Molefi Ntseki, but Mosimane was not in favour of a second stint as head of Bafana Bafana and instead opted to remain at Egyptian giants Al Ahly.
Equally, there were strong claims that Bafana’s all-time leading striker and now AmaZulu boss Benni McCarthy would take over the national team. However, Safa eventually settled on the 69-year-old former Cameroon coach due to his “experience”.
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Mngqithi, though, would have liked to see another local coach be granted an opportunity.
“The truth for me is I just believe that sometimes we don’t know what South African coaches are capable of‚” Mngqithi said after his team stretched their lead at the top of the PSL table to four points with a 2-0 victory over Maritzburg United.
“We take [them] for granted and we only realise late [that they are also capable]. When we give them opportunities‚ probably we don’t support them as much as we support the foreigners.
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“These are my views and opinions on the matter‚ and many people may not see it the way I see it. But I think we have had too many foreign coaches who have not really [had] big success [with] the national team.”
Since 1992 Bafana Bafana has had nine foreign coaches with Jomo Sono the only South African having had the opportunity of leading the team at a Fifa World Cup (2002, Japan and South Korea). Frenchman Philippe Troussier was in charge at France98, while Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira had the honour in the home 2010 World Cup.
Safa have indicated, though, that they will continue the policy of blooding a local assistant with Broos – just like Mosimane served his apprenticeship under Parreira. Mngqithi believes this is integral for the development of local coaches, while at the same time beneficial to the Belgian in terms of someone being able to share knowledge and expertise about players campaigning in the domestic Dstv Premiership.
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“This is something that I don’t want to get my hands on but the truth is that the development of our coaches is also very important‚” he said.
“Even if you bring in foreign expertise‚ it is always wise to have some local coaches within the space so that they benefit something and learn a little bit. If somebody brings some scarce skills that South Africa does not have‚ we must support him and see what he offers and learn from him.
“I will always be somebody who supports the thinking that South Africans are capable of doing it because if you ask him (Broos)‚ who are the key players at Sundowns‚ Chiefs‚ Pirates or SuperSport? He might not even know one.
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“It will take him some time to adjust and understand the players we have locally and internationally‚ and also understand their profiles.
“That’s why it is always important for such people to always be surrounded by the people who know the players better‚ and those should be South African coaches. The culture of having a foreigner with some local full-time assistant coaches will help.”
Broos' chances of acclimatising to South African football received a boost on Thursday when the June Fifa World Cup qualifiers were pushed back to September due to Covid-19 complications.