Hugo Broos opens up on Bafana Bafana revolution

After leading Bafana to their first World Cup through the qualifiers in 24 years, Broos took the media through the process of what it takes to be a senior national team player.  

He says players have understood what he is all about over the past four years. 

"Certainly players understood what I wanted, and certainly players knew that they have to work very hard to perform and achieve something, and that was what I wanted to see when I went to games to look for players," said Broos.

"For me, the first thing I saw was the mentality on the pitch, the rest, ok, I would see it later, but [I always asked], 'Does this man have the right mentality?' And I think that was the right way to do it.

"Now you certainly see that in the national team, there is a fantastic mentality of winners – they want to win, they want to work hard if we have to work hard, so this is the right mentality and, again, you achieve things with that."

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Throughout his tenure, the Belgian tactician has faces criticism over his selections and omissions, and addressed this as their qualifying campaign culminated in success at Mbombela Stadium. 

"I remember in my first year here, nobody believed in [the players], and it was difficult then because those guys already read things that were being written or hearing things that were said, and it was very difficult," he added.

"Secondly, we didn't really have a team. For me, it was looking for the right players with the right mentality, and I know that, certainly in the first year, for you as media it was very difficult to understand what I was doing.

"And if I can give you some advice, judge players on their performance and not on the [club] they're playing for or because they are nice guys.

"This is the world of professional football, there are no presents or gifts, you have to earn them, and this is something after one year – don't ask me why but – suddenly there it was, we suddenly had a team."