JOHANNESBURG – Coach Molefi Ntseki who was fired by the South African Football Association in March after failing to guide Bafana Bafana to the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations finals will return to the national team as an assistant, his successor Hugo Broos has confirmed.
“My local assistant coach is the former Bafana coach, Molefi Ntseki,“ Broos said during an interview on SAfmSportOn on Friday night. “I have met with him twice already and the man is an encyclopaedia, he knows all the players here and he's happy to be an assistant again.”
Earlier this week, during his first media briefing since his appointment as the new Bafana coach, Broos confirmed that he’ll have two assistants – a Belgian and South African. He revealed that Cedomir Janevski will come in as his Belgian assistant.
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Janevski was born in Macedonia but spent most of his life in Belgium, after marrying from the country, playing and coaching clubs such as Club Brugge. The 59-year-old is expected to touch down in Mzansi later next week after leaving his head coaching job in Cyprus.
After being quizzed on the identity of his South African coach, Broos took a cautious route, saying he’s still in negotiations with the Technical Committee to recommend to him a coach who’s experienced and knows the players who are local and overseas-based.
“I asked Safa about a second assistant coach and they asked me what do you think about him (Molefi Ntseki) and I said if he's fine with being second again then. I have no problems and I met with him and he's a good football person,” Broos said.
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The 2017 Afcon winning coach with Cameroon added: “I can tell you that he's (Molefi Ntseki) a football person and a good coach. He knows everything about the players and their backgrounds. I was impressed when I met him because he is a football person.”
Ntseki last served in the deputy position to his successor Stuart Baxter. Together, Baxter and Ntseki, they led Bafana to the 2019 Afcon finals in the Land of the Pharaohs, Egypt, where they crashed out in the quarterfinals following a loss to arch-rivals Nigeria.
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Janevski and Ntseki will have to hit the ground running as they’ll be in charge of Bafana’s friendly matches next month as Broos will return to his native Belgium on May 24 to receive his second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine before returning to the country at the end of July.
IOL Sport