BAFANA Bafana coach Hugo Broos was die hel in yesterday, after his manne were not allowed to train at the the Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a day before they face Benin at the venue in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday at 6pm.
Benin will host South Africa, who are unbeaten in 18 matches, in Abidjan after their home grounds were deemed to be unsuitable for international matches. But this arrangement has been complicated by the fact that Ivory Coast host the Gambia at the same Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny on Monday, and this means both Bafana and Benin cannot access the venue a day before their own match.
Broos is understandably upset as the visiting team is entitled to a training session of up to one hour on the pitch where the match is to take place, on the day before the match.
Broos says: “First of all, I have to tell you that I’m really not satisfied with the decision that we can’t have a pre-match training in the stadium where the game takes place. I think this is a Fifa rule, that every team has the right to have a preliminary training before the game of 60 minutes in the stadium where you play, where the match takes place.
“I don’t understand. I understand it because there is another game. But this is bad when people who make the rules don’t follow the rules. Will that have an influence on the game? I don’t know.
“But I know if tomorrow after the game I’m not at the press conference, there will be a sanction. So we have to follow the rules. Where are the rules now? And you will tell me, yes, that’s for both teams. I don’t think so. I think Berlin has already trained in that stadium because they were here before us.
“So it’s all nice to say, follow the rules, follow this. We have to follow everything. But we have the right to train today in the stadium where the match takes place, and we can’t. And this is not honest and this is not correct.”
Bafana top group C with five qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada left to play.