Bafana Bafana legend Mark Fish has supported Hugo Broos’s call that Helman Mkhalele is the best candidate to succeed him as national coach when he retires after next year’s World Cup.
Mkhalele has served as Broos’s assistant since 2021, and Fish – speaking to Sowetan at the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational in Sun City at the weekend – agreed his former Jomo Cosmos and Orlando Pirates teammate was best suited for the job.
“We can’t underestimate the importance of what Helman has done alongside Broos,” Fish said.
“We’ve seen the success of the team, and Helman has been a key part of that. Why not give him a chance? Our junior national teams are qualifying for World Cups, so we finally have some continuity in our football. Why not have that at the highest level of the national team?”
Fish also supports Broos’s suggestion that Mkhalele should improve his coaching badges in the next year if he wants to take over when the Belgian leaves after the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US next winter.
“The suggestion about upgrading [coaching badges] is something Helman will need to take seriously. He knows the players, and he’s done a phenomenal job as a link between the players and Broos. He’s someone that can be trusted,” Fish said of his fellow 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winner.
We have a team we can be proud of. Bafana are a team that will succeed; they have the spirit, they have the players, and they have the technical team.
— Bafana legend Mark Fish
The retired central defender, who also won the CAF Champions League with Mkhalele at Pirates in 1995, backed Bafana to do well at the Afcon in Morocco this December and at the World Cup.
“We have a team we can be proud of. Bafana are a team that will succeed; they have the spirit, they have the players, and they have the technical team.
“As football fans, we have expectations, and we want them to go one better than last time [when they came third at the Afcon in Ivory Coast]. We expect them to be in the final. Why not have a Bafana-Morocco final?”
The draw for the first 48-team World Cup will take place on December 5, and – while acknowledging he and his teammates had it tougher when SA last qualified in 2002 – Fish expects this bunch to make World Cup history. “I’m confident they will be better than all other Bafana teams that have been to the World Cup.
“Yes, there were more qualifying slots [nine], but you still need to win the group to qualify, and they did it with character. We had not qualified for five straight World Cups, but I think this group will be the first to get out of the group stage. They will do better than all our previous teams.”
Sowetan
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