Hugo Broos is having the last laugh with his notable progress with Bafana Bafana, and one happy man who is no stranger to South African football is Luc Eymael, and he has hit back at his countryman's critics.
Broos has led Bafana to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations after their emphatic victory over competition favourites Morocco on Tuesday night.
Prior to Bafana's departure to Ivory Coast, questions were asked by some of Broos' critics about his team selection after he didn't select many overseas-based players.
In his squad, the veteran mentor selected players mostly from Mamelodi Sundowns, and some from Orlando Pirates and other PSL teams, while there is no representative from Kaizer Chiefs.
Eymael, who is a former Nedbank Cup winner with Free State Stars, feels that the 2017 AFCON winner was subjected to unfair criticism.
The Good
"I am enjoying the AFCON and I am happy for you guys in South Africa. I am happy for all the people who were criticising Hugo Broos. I remember commenting when people were criticising the coach that it is at the end of the party that you pay the musician and not before. In a way, I was encouraging the critics to be patient because I know him (Broos) and what he is capable of doing. I am aware that he is old and that he could retire after this tournament but that doesn't take anything away from what he is capable of doing. This is the coach who has previously won the AFCON when he was with Cameroon, and he is now doing well with South African as you can also see the results. I mean, beating Morocco 2-0, having beaten them before in the qualifiers, that is huge. Morocco was number four in the World Cup, and therefore he (Broos) has done incredibly well," said Eymael.
The Bad
"I don't know if he will eventually retire after the tournament, it's a tough one. I know that some things can be difficult when someone reaches a certain age but what I know is that most of you were criticising him. People were criticising his team selections, and some were asking why there were no players from Kaizer Chiefs and so on. Others were even complaining that he is talking a lot and I know why that people didn't like that it's because the guy is always telling the truth. It reminded of my time in South Africa, people were criticising me and they did that only because I was telling the truth. When you say that it is not good for the PSL that Chiefs is more than 20 points behind Sundowns, people don't like hearing such comments," he said.
The Ugly
"Hugo Broos has been doing well with the South African national team and hasn't lost a lot of games and that's why I didn't understand the critics when he was criticised. There were coaches before him, and what did they do? I think he has done better than them. He has transformed the team, and you could see against Cameroon that the players gave everything on the field for him. It reminded me of your rugby national team during the World Cup. Personally, I am not a huge fan of rugby and I only follow the sport when it is World Cup and that's because I like New Zealand and South Africa. I always enjoy when those two nations play and your boys (Bafana) reminded of the South African rugby national team with their performance against Morocco," concluded the coach.
Should SAFA retain Broos after AFCON?
