Broos suggested that Mosimane may be influenced by agents and club owners in another spicey outburst in an interview in the Belgian media.
“South Africa still don’t have a coach,” Broos told Het Nieuwsblad. “The candidate is Pitso Mosimane, a successful South African coach. But they know that if he comes in, they’ll go five years back in time.
“Club owners and agents calling coaches to influence the squad selection. I threw all of them out. If one called, I would say bluntly: ‘I don’t talk with agents’.”
Broos admits it was tough to walk away from the Bafana job having held a genuine affection for the country and the people he worked with in his five years in the country.
“I underestimated it. The closer the end came, the more people asked me not to stop. There are people who have now lost their jobs because I’m no longer continuing. My driver, for example, people drive like cowboys in South Africa.
“My assistant coach, Helman Mkhalele, too. He didn’t want to stay without me. My wife knows Helman and felt sorry for him too. ‘If you can stay for another year in a different role, with Helman as coach, then do it.’
“The federation president (Danny Jordaan) even said: ‘We understand that you miss your family. Just write down when you want to come.’ So only a week before the match did I consider returning to South Africa. That would have meant I could stay in Belgium from November until mid-March.
“But I couldn’t bring myself to suggest that. I was embarrassed to propose it. During that week, when I was there to wrap everything up, I changed my mind at least 10 times. Until I told myself: ‘It’s terrible for those people, but it has to end at some point.’ It was a long silence when I told the president my decision.
“I had to swallow hard a few times during those final weeks, yes. I’ve never experienced that kind of gratitude before. Especially after we finished third at the Africa Cup of Nations, and now also reaching the knockout stage for the first time. From my apartment to the shopping centre was 300 metres.
“Every time there would be 10 to 15 people asking for selfies, cars would stop and people would roll down their windows. Once, a car blocked the entire street like that: two policemen wanted a photo,” he added.
Broos predicted, however, he might become bored in retirement.
“Now I have no worries, no phone calls. Getting up and seeing what the day brings. For now, that’s absolutely fine. I know myself. In a few months, this situation will become a problem. Not because I want to return to coaching, mind you.
“That chapter is definitely closed, whoever calls. Fourteen days ago I got a call asking me to take charge of Ivory Coast. If they had asked me that 10 years ago, I’d already have been there.
“I don’t mind being alone occasionally. But not seven days a week, for weeks on end, as it was during the last five years with South Africa. But also because over the last two years I had to push myself to do certain things: prepare training sessions, study opponents.
“When you start to feel that, you might as well close the books. One day you no longer feel like doing the job properly. I don’t want that either. That’s why I decided last year that the World Cup would be the ideal time to stop.”