Broos says ‘basketball duel’ against Guinea was good prep for France

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos was happy that the qualities of experience and muscle he sought to add to his squad had the desired result against a physical Guinea, which ended in a goalless draw in Belgium on Friday.

Broos felt he saw progress in that respect, and more blocks added in his building exercise ahead of a big clash against world champions France in Lille on Tuesday and the start of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June.

SA will need all the “power”, as Broos has termed it, they can get against the star-studded French, who have N’Golo Kanté back in their ranks. Chelsea’s unparalleled midfield enforcer missed Les Bleus’ 2-1 win against Ivory Coast at Marseille’s  Stade Vélodrome on Friday with personal issues.

“They showed me what I wanted to see,” Broos said on Sunday of his additions to his squad, two of whom — Mamelodi Sundowns right-back Khuliso Mudau and Orlando Pirates central midfielder Thabang Monare — got a run against Guinea in Kortrijk.

“We said before the game that was why those players were with us. We needed experience, we needed power.

“And what I saw in the game against Guinea was that they gave us what we would have liked to see from them.

“They are also good within the group — their mentality is very good. You don’t really see that they are there for the first time with me.”

Broos said SA had identified experience and power as lacking in SA’s 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, where the coach threw in young players with the intention of rebuilding.

Those deficiencies were most evident, he said, in the heartbreaking, decisive 1-0 final Group G defeat to Ghana in Cape Coast where SA looked light in the challenge in the face of a physical onslaught.

“Those six [World Cup] games we learnt a lot. And it's a pity that in the last game we felt things we hadn’t in the previous games,” Broos said.

“Ghana started very aggressively and we didn’t have an answer for that. We didn’t have the power and the experience.

“So the evaluation we made after that game gave us the selection we have now, with experienced players and players with power.

“And we saw it already against Guinea. I laughed about it but we didn’t play against a football team, it was a basketball team.

“They had seven, eight players of 1.9m [tall]. It’s unbelievable. And players like that have the power.

“But you didn’t see it in the duels. We were there. And this was something we missed against Ghana. If we had this in the game against Ghana it wouldn’t have been the same game.”

France coach Dider Deschamps said on Sunday that Kylian Mbappe had overcome an ear, nose and throat infection and will take part in the match against Bafana.