Johannesburg — Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has invited his national team counterpart Hugo Broos to the club following his recent criticism of local football.
Last Saturday, Bafana Bafana returned to winning ways as they thumped Sierra Leone 4-0 at home to end a four-game winless run in all competitions.
But Broos' men were not at their best in the second friendly on Tuesday night at FNB Stadium as they laboured for a 1-0 win over their neighbours Botswana.
And that dull performance infuriated the Belgian-born coach, who moaned that there are some PSL players who are not good enough for Bafana’s level.
Mngqithi, who's been around for some time, didn’t take that lying down after being asked about Broos' bold remarks on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a free country, you can say whatever you want to say. But it gives you a little bit of a license to say whatever if you are winning games,” Mngqithi said.
“If you are not winning, then there will always be question marks. But as to whether South African players are good enough or they are not, I’m not sure.
“We know that South Africa has achieved a lot of good things in the past … So I believe there’s a very big pool of good players you can choose from.
“But if you are choosing whomever and you are not winning and you are pointing fingers at players, maybe most fingers are pointing in your direction.
“But if you are winning games, we are willing to listen to you, as that shows what you are trying to do. But the calibre of those matches is also important.”
Broos also took a dig at the PSL’s administration, saying that he’s been denied an opportunity to meet the local coaches by the league on many occasions.
But Mngqithi denied ever being contacted by Broos for a meet-up. So much so that he's since extended an invitation to Broos to come to Chloorkop.
“We’ve never closed doors for the national team coach to speak to us. He’s got freedom to come to Chloorkop. He can call me anytime,” Mngqithi said.
“It would be nice to also know what he sees because his comments have also been all over the place. It’s always nice to talk in person and iron these out.
“We’ve never said ‘no’ to Hugo! Maybe we must phone him and ask to have a meeting with him. He’s never called me or any of the coaches at Sundowns.
“At Sundowns, he’s free to come here any day. He can come to watch training if he wants to. He's the coach of the national team and we respect him.”
IOL Sport