Cape Town – Veteran Premier Soccer League coach Boebie Solomons believes Bafana Bafana tactician Hugo Broos is changing the mentality of South African football in a positive manner.
Solomons, who was a top-flight coach for almost 30 years with Santos, Bidvest Wits and Maritzburg United amongst others, believes Broos has arrived in South Africa with the right mindset.
Broos has led Bafana to the top of their Fifa World Cup qualifying group with seven points after three matches heading into the home tie against Ethiopia at FNB Stadium on Tuesday.
“The mentality change has been important. Sometimes there is a lot of negativity around things, and it takes someone else from outside to come in and say the same things,” Solomons told IOL Sport in Stellenbosch on Monday.
“I think the way he has used a lot of the youth has changed the mentality. We have moved away from negative publicity and atmosphere. I think it is a good thing.
“The new coach is showing there is much more talent than we think. He is using different players, and yet we are getting the results. What we have been saying all the years is now coming to the fore. The mentality change is doing a lot for us.”
Solomons has always been a firm believer in the young talent that South African football possesses, having plotted the pathway for a number of current professional footballers playing both home and abroad.
One of these players is Bafana Bafana central defender Rushine de Reuck, who started his career at Santos in Cape Town under Solomons’ guidance before moving on to Maritzburg United and subsequently Mamelodi Sundowns.
“Rushine was my player at Santos. He came through the Santos programme. He had the mentality of becoming a top player. We couldn’t keep him at Santos after we went down. He left the programme to go to Pietermaritzburg and I’m glad he did it because look where is now,” Solomons said.
“We have a lot more young players that we can use. Rushine’s brother is actually with us at Stellies. He is now U-16 and we are laying the foundation for him to progress.”
Solomons is currently employed as technical director at Stellenbosch FC and Maties FC, and will continue to play an integral role in developing the talent in the Winelands region after an official collaboration was signed between the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport and Stellenbosch University (Maties) on Monday.
Furthermore, Solomons is also equipping the coaches and players at Stellenbosch FC and Maties FC to have a better understanding of their overall game by running regular coaching courses.
“The idea is to give the players and students the knowledge from young in terms of how to coach because I have learnt that from my career that I have become a better player when I started knowing more about the game,” he said.
“It is also to give the coaches the tools they are working with is quality. My whole idea is to empower the people so that they can give quality coaching to the youth in order for the region to grow.”
IOL Sport