ATLANTA (AP) — South Africa coach Hugo Broos has fast become an unexpected highlight of this World Cup.
At the age of 74, with thick silver hair and a seemingly permanent furrowed brow, the Belgian takes a no-nonsense approach to dealing with the media.
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FILE - South Africa's head coach Hugo Broos watches from the bench during the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match between South Africa and Cameroon in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
South Africa head coach Hugo Broos the World Cup Group A soccer match between Czechia and South Africa in Atlanta, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
South Africa's coach Hugo Broos holds a news conference in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
South Africa's Khuliso Mudau, left, and South Africa head coach Hugo Broos leave the pitch after the World Cup Group A soccer match between Czechia and South Africa in Atlanta, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
Broos has shut down questions about Donald Trump, called out what he saw as the favorable treatment of Lionel Messi and told critics back in South Africa to “shut up.”
All of that within a week of the tournament kicking off.
“For those who still don’t know it, I do it my way,” he said after former South Africa players rounded on his team's 2-0 loss to Mexico in the opening game.
“I never listen to people who sometimes think that they are important enough to criticize the team. So when I’m going to see what they did before, I think it should be better that they shut up.”
Broos, who has said he will step down at the end of the tournament, led South Africa to its first World Cup since it was host in 2010.
He is one of the oldest coaches ever to take part in a World Cup and, with 40 years of experience, he has no problem speaking his mind. He was, however, astute enough to avoid being drawn into a potential war of words with President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday he listened intently as one reporter asked him and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams to comment on Trump's baseless claim there was a systematic killing of white farmers in South Africa.
“I will answer that question,” he said. “We will not answer that question.”
He was more expansive about Messi's tackle on Algeria captain Aissa Mandi — especially when his own player Themba Zwane was sent off and subsequently given a three-match suspension after a VAR review of his clash with Mexico's Roberto Alvarado.
“I think there was not even a VAR with Messi,” Broos said. “I don’t want Messi to get a red card because that player has to be on the pitch ... but, yeah, what is the difference here?”
A 1-1 draw with Czech Republic on Thursday kept alive South Africa's hopes of advancing from the group phase for the first time at a World Cup.
Asked if he was relieved after Teboho Mokoena scored a late penalty, his response was typically blunt.
“Why shouldn’t I be relieved?” he said.
Then came criticism of the Czechs' long-ball tactics: “I think if you like football that you like more the game we played today than the game of Czechia.”
And then Atlanta Stadium: “If I can be very honest, this is not a football stadium. It’s a nice stadium, fantastic stadium, everything you want, but only the grass is football. All the rest is not.”
A win against South Korea on Wednesday would likely be enough to see South Africa advance from Group A.
Broos, who is popular among fans, spoke this week of the reaction when he secured qualification to the World Cup:
"There was somebody who came to me and he said, ‘Coach, they have to make a statue for you in South Africa.’
“I said, make it in wood so it will burn more easily when I lose.”
James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
FILE - South Africa's head coach Hugo Broos watches from the bench during the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match between South Africa and Cameroon in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
South Africa head coach Hugo Broos the World Cup Group A soccer match between Czechia and South Africa in Atlanta, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
South Africa's coach Hugo Broos holds a news conference in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
South Africa's Khuliso Mudau, left, and South Africa head coach Hugo Broos leave the pitch after the World Cup Group A soccer match between Czechia and South Africa in Atlanta, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The relationship between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans neared a breaking point this week as he upended their efforts to speedily confirm one of his own nominees and said he would not sign the renewal of a key surveillance law unless they agree to new terms.
Trump’s overnight social media post Wednesday that he was delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to become national intelligence director, just hours before the U.S. attorney's confirmation hearing, further strained relations between the Senate and White House that have been worsening for weeks. Later that day, some Republican senators who have been hesitant to challenge the president directly on the Iran war were blunt in their criticism of his deal to end it.
“This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a post on X.
The open tensions are an almost complete reversal from a year ago when Senate Republicans worked closely with Trump on a complicated effort to push through his massive package of spending and tax cuts.
At the time, criticism of the president was almost nonexistent among Republicans on Capitol Hill, and they planned to highlight passage of that bill in the midterms. But as the November election draws closer and Republicans are trying to defend their majorities, Trump is instead needling Congress with his demands and reversals, driving several Republican senators to disparage his actions publicly for the first time.
“I think somebody’s not dialing the president into the complexities of what he’s done here,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Wednesday after Clayton’s confirmation was postponed. “I mean, my God.”
The slow unraveling of what once seemed like an airtight alliance between the executive and legislative branches in a Republican-led Washington extends to their policy priorities.
Trump appears to have lost interest in most of the GOP agenda and has become almost singularly focused on his voting legislation to require proof of citizenship, which has almost no chance of passing. At the same time, he has asked members of Congress to fund parts of his White House ballroom project, allow a temporary intelligence director that none of them like and cede their powers on the Iran war.
The growing rift has brought much of the Senate’s business to a halt and put Republicans who are up for reelection this year on the defensive. It has also put pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has been up-front with Trump about what he can and cannot do in the Senate.
Trump has pressured Thune relentlessly to scrap the filibuster and pass the strict proof-of-citizenship legislation, called the SAVE America Act. Thune, R-S.D., has told Trump publicly and privately that the votes are not there for either step. Still, Trump has kept up the push.
In a social media post Thursday, Trump said he would be “the last Republican president” if the voting bill does not pass.
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, must not let this ‘carnage’ happen,” Trump said. “They will go down on the wrong side of History, as will all Republicans who just stood by and watched.”
Nonetheless, Trump has yet to go after the well-liked Republican leader on a personal basis, as he often did with Thune's predecessor, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.. Trump once called McConnell a “ dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack.”
Trump and Thune talk frequently, even as Thune is sometimes giving the president news he does not want to hear. As Trump pushed for the voting bill, Thune scheduled weeks of floor time to consider it, an effort to make clear that the Senate was supportive, even if the votes are lacking.
Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, one of the president’s closest allies in the Senate, said he has never heard Trump say anything negative about Thune.
“It’s a difficult position,” Schmitt said of Thune’s role in the Senate. “I think they have a good working relationship.”
One of Thune's closest allies, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, said the even-keeled leader is the “right person at the right time.”
“In the Capitol today, he is the stable force,” Rounds said. “In Washington, D.C., today, he is the stable force.”
There were no signs of a revolt within the GOP conference, for now, despite Trump's pressure.
Thune “has managed it better than anyone else could manage it,” said Cassidy, who has become a more frequent Trump critic since a primary loss to a Trump-backed challenger.
Criticism of Trump has at times surfaced even among his closest Senate allies, especially with his proposed $1.776 billion settlement fund for his political allies and his pick for acting intelligence director, Bill Pulte, who has no known intelligence experience.
But the rift with Trump has also stoked some new internal tensions.
Several Republican senators criticized Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has waged an online campaign to eliminate the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, in a private conference lunch this week for stoking dissension within the party in an election year.
Unbowed, Lee has kept up his social media campaign, including a post Friday on X in which he said that giving up because Republicans lack the votes is a “recipe for failure.”
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, one of those who spoke out at the meeting, replied that it is Lee’s job to find the votes, “if you can.”
“Can’t just complain about others,” Cornyn posted. “Prove us wrong.”
Some Senate Republicans have made clear they have no plans to separate themselves from Trump.
As several of his colleagues criticized Trump’s agreement with Iran this week, first-term Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, aggressively defended it on social media.
“Let’s get the Nobel Peace Prize ready!” Moreno posted on X.
But Trump has far fewer of those Senate allies than he did when they narrowly passed the tax and spending cuts legislation a year ago. That is in part because he has picked off some of the most loyal Republican votes himself.
Both Cassidy and Cornyn lost in primaries last month after Trump endorsed their opponents. Tillis announced he was not running for reelection last year after Trump repeatedly criticized him on social media.
Now all three have become frequent critics.
Shortly after his election loss, Cornyn posted on social media a fable about a frog and a scorpion. The scorpion asks the frog to carry it across a river, according to the fable, and then stings the frog in the middle of the river, “dooming them both.”
“The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence,” Cornyn’s post read. “To which the scorpion replies: ‘I am sorry, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s my character.’”
President Donald Trump speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks with reporters before a Republican lunch at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., heads to a closed-door Republican policy meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., leaves the chamber, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
