Will Hugo Broos make a U-turn on his decision to quit Bafana Bafana?

Upon South Africa's qualification for the tournament finals, Broos firmly declared his plan to retire following the international event, marking a 40-year full circle from his time as a player for Belgium during the Mexico 1986 World Cup.

Over the months that followed, he repeated this position consistently, yet lately he seems to be altering his view, either because of sincere thoughts about extending his tenure or to divert focus from an issue drawing increasing attention.

“You know, maybe it was not a good idea for me to say that after the World Cup I should stop my career as a coach,” Broos said. “And I also said at that moment that, okay, I can talk now and say it will be like that till the moment I have to decide.

“So, let’s wait and see what will happen in three, four months. On the other hand, for me, if I should stop, I would want to stop beautifully. It has to be a beautiful end for me.

“And that means that we have to perform well at the World Cup. So, I will work as hard as I have worked over the past five years to have a team at the World Cup that gets good results.

“So, there is still a lot of work to do. And I don’t have the time to think about, yeah, will I go or will I stay?”

Bafana Bafana will compete against co-hosts Mexico, South Korea, and either Denmark or the Czech Republic in Group A at the finals.

Their opening fixture is versus Mexico at the Azteca Stadium on 11 June.