{"id":498495,"date":"2026-06-18T05:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/498495\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:12:13","slug":"south-africa-coach-tells-critics-to-shut-up-before-second-world-cup-match-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/498495\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa coach tells critics to \u2018shut up\u2019 before second World Cup match | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018I never listen to the \u200btrash of the social media,\u2019 Hugo Broos says before Bafana Bafana\u2019s match against Czechia.<\/p>\n

Published On 18 Jun 202618 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

South Africa \u200ccoach Hugo Broos told critics of his tactics in last week\u2019s World Cup opener \u2060to \u201cshut up\u201d and \u2060insisted he would continue to do things his way when planning for his team\u2019s Group A clash\u00a0against Czechia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was an outcry in South Africa when \u2060Broos took a rare defensive approach in the tournament\u2019s opening match against Mexico last Thursday, which his team lost 2-0<\/a> without creating any genuine chances of their own.<\/p>\n

Bafana Bafana, as South Africa\u2019s team is known, also finished down to nine men, with \u2060two players sent off in the second half, and left little positive impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a coach for 40 years, and I know it\u2019s a part of the job that you will be criticised. So for the moment, I\u2019m criticised, but people have to know\u2026 and for those who still don\u2019t know it\u2026 \u200cI do it my way,\u201d Broos said at a news conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never listen to the trash of the social media. I never listen to people who feel they are important enough to criticise the team. When I look back at what they achieved before, I think it should be better that they shut up,\u201d he said in a reference to former player pundits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what went wrong against Mexico. The players know it, and that\u2019s \u2060the most important thing, and for the rest, I will do it \u2060my way,\u201d Broos repeated.<\/p>\n

The veteran Belgian coach said it was imperative for South Africa to win on Thursday in Atlanta to stand any chance of advancing. The Czechs also lost their first Group A game to South Korea last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think \u2060our situation is clear. If we don\u2019t win tomorrow, we play our last game against South Korea for nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something we must avoid. \u2060We know the mistakes we made in the first game, and \u2060some people said the coach is too soft on his players, but I don\u2019t like to blame my players in front of a camera. So, sometimes you have to lie a little bit as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broos had said after the Mexico \u200cmatch that he felt his team could be confident after the performance, also prompting derision among some South African supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what went wrong in the game against Mexico, and we will try \u200cto \u200cimprove that tomorrow, but we can only improve that if we have the ball,\u201d he added, giving some insight into the possibility of a different tactical approach on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018I never listen to the \u200btrash of the social media,\u2019 Hugo Broos says before Bafana Bafana\u2019s match against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1911,4118,85,46,43,9517,2224,105,101640],"class_list":["post-498495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-africa","tag-football","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-south-africa","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}