South Africa head coach Hugo Broos isn’t getting that usual Africa Cup of Nations feeling in Morocco.
Broos, who led Cameroon to the title in 2017 in Gabon and took South Africa to third place at the 2023 edition in Ivory Coast, said Sunday there was a lack of enthusiasm for the 35th Africa Cup.
Broos, who is involved in his third Afcon, said he is not feeling the vibe from the Moroccan people like he felt in Gabon where he won it with Cameroon in 2017 and in the Ivory Coast with Bafana last year.
“I don’t feel the same vibe compared to what I felt in the Gabon or the Ivory Coast,” he said.
“I don’t know how to explain it but in the Ivory Coast and in Gabon, you felt you were in a tournament. When we went with the bus to train, people were waving and showing off flags, here there is nothing.
“I don’t know, but there is no vibe, there is no typical Afcon vibe.”
Broos also lamented poor crowd attendances, even though they have improved over the past few matches.
“I am not feeling it here, we play the game and we get everything we want. If they don’t let the people in free at the stadium, nobody is coming to watch the games.
“Nobody came to watch the game between South Africa and Zimbabwe, nobody came to watch our game against Angola. In Ivory Coast, the first game was against Mali, but Tunisia and Namibia there were crowds there in the stands.
“Local people were involved in the tournament and I don’t feel that here.”
Broos slammed the organisers for what he called ‘chaos’ relating to members of his family attending the tournament.
“My family was at our game against Egypt and it was chaos before the match started. The police did not allow some of the people to go into the stadium, even though they had tickets.
“People with tickets couldn’t enter the stadium because there were crowds of people who didn’t have tickets and they were allowed to come in. My wife said she was afraid. The organisation on that one is not good.”
He had some positive things however to say about the standard of the team’s accommodation and training facilities.
“We can’t not be happy with what we have, you can see the hotel is fantastic here in Marrakesh. The one in Agadir was also good even though I feel more comfortable here.
“The one in Agadir was not cosy, the room where we had our meals and meetings was too big and it was a little bit uncomfortable. Here in Marrakesh we are good, the pitches are good and there are no complaints from our side.”
