Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says he’s pleased the bonus issues are out of the way but admits it’s common practice in football.
The South African Football Association (SAFA) and the Bagana squad signed a memorandum of agreement on Sunday to agree to an enticing bonus offer.
Should Bafana win the Africa Cup of Nations, the squad will share the $7-million, anything less will see them earn nothing – it’s an all-or-nothing situation that will undoubtedly provide extra motivation for the squad who’ve been tipped as dark horses around the continent.
“Two months or three months ago people were saying ‘ah there’s again discussions between players and SAFA about bonuses’, I’m so long in football, every time you have to discuss bonuses it’s a problem,” Broos said at open media day in Stellenbosch on Monday.
“The one who has to give it, wants to give as [little] as possible, and the one who receives it wants as much as possible, but at the end there’s always an agreement, always. And you see what happens here, it was a little bit annoying at the time.
“Players were not happy because they weren’t paid and I understand that but I told them also, you can only do one thing, perform. Then you go [back] to the table and you are the strongest party. And they did that, they beat Congo, and played well in Ivory Coast.
“They did what they had to do and automatically, they put it behind them and give a bit more, it’s never a big problem but it’s always a problem and it’s not only in national teams, I had the same as a coach and player [at club level], it’s normal and I wasn’t really finding it a problem [with Bafana] it was just annoying at that moment.”
Bafana will return to Gauteng tomorrow before their warm-up match against Lesotho at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Wednesday as their final game before heading to Ivory Coast for the 2023 AFCON.
