Bafana Bafana's Hugo Broos blamed for throwing Orlando Pirates star Relebohile Mofokeng into 'the lion’s den' he needed protection against Cameroon 'he’s just a skinny young boy, like a mosquito versus those big elephants'

South Africa's exit from the Africa Cup of Nations finals continues to shape public debate, and Hugo Broos' strategy has been widely blamed.

The tactician made four changes to the squad that played Cameroon and ended up losing by a 2-1 margin. Samukele Kabini, Nkosanathi Sibisi, Relebohile Mofokeng, and Bathusi Aubaas are the stars who earned their first starts in AFCON, but the change in strategy did not bring about the desired results.

While critiquing Broos' match plan, Kaizer Chiefs' legend Doctor Khumalo has particularly raised concerns about the manner in which Broos deployed Mofokeng.

“There was a lot of uncertainty in terms of the tactical approach. You don’t bring in three or four players that didn’t play in the group stages because there are factors that influence performance,” Khumalo told Africa Five Side.

“The first one is the mental factor, and then we talk about the social factor, which is the second one. The social factor is in understanding you, trusting you, and believing in you.

“But the players he brought, yes, they might have been together in the national team, but you build into a stage of a certain group," he added.

“From the group stages, if he knew that in the Round of 16, he was going to use Mofokeng. Then build his confidence within the group stages. But you don’t just throw them in the lion’s den like he did. Look at Mofokeng’s stature; he’s just a skinny young boy like a mosquito versus those big elephants.

"Secondly, he was not protected because – I’m saying this because when I used to play for South Africa, I was skinny like him, but the coach used to protect me.

“The only thing I was told to do was be on the ball and forget about defending. Give him the opportunity to operate in the space that doesn’t have the physical contact because clearly, he’s going to lose the battle.”

Apart from blaming Broos' tactics, Khumalo said that Bafana players looked fatigued, and this could also be a major contributing factor in their loss.

“I must say that I’m proud of the boys; they lost as a team, and that’s a footballing problem because if you miss [scoring] chances, you are bound to lose the game,” Khumalo added.

“And also they tried their level best in the critical phase of the match, 82 minutes; they scored the goal, but they were playing against the experienced Cameroon.

"I was wondering when they were going to change the formation from low block or medium block because all the teams that are playing South Africa were not pressing high, but we also didn’t have answers for dead-ball situations. We couldn’t deal with free kicks and the corners.”

“I think what made this campaign different was I was looking at some of the players. Most of the South African players were fatigued, I would tell you. I looked at Teboho Mokoena in the game against Zimbabwe, and even against Cameroon, he was not the Teboho we know," he added.

"He’s tired. And some of the players, I could also tell that they are tired because they played [CAF] Champions League, but that’s not an excuse.”

After the exit from the AFCON finals, the Belgian tactician said there will be a team evaluation before the World Cup finals in June.

"Maybe we conceded too many goals, and we only scored two or three in the tournament," he said.

"But we're not going backwards, certainly not. But on the other side, I think we have to make a good evaluation of what happened here in this tournament."