UNITED STATES -- Whether Hugo Broos has taken charge of Bafana Bafana for the final time or not, South Africa's World Cup exit must not obscure the scale of the transformation he has overseen over the last five years.
The Belgian has repeatedly hinted that the tournament would be his last World Cup and, after the 1-0 defeat by Canada, again raised the suggestion that the next chapter belonged to someone else.
"I have said this is my last World Cup, and it is," Broos told journalists. "I don't need to give advice to the next coach. He has a good team. It's up to him now to make it better and to make progress."
If those words mark the end of his tenure, Broos departs having restored pride, competitiveness and belief to a national side that had spent much of the previous decade drifting between disappointment and underachievement.
The last half-decade hasn't always been smooth; Broos's gruff demeanour, some of his statements to the press, and his playing style haven't always won over admirers, but it's hard to deny that he leaves behind a positive legacy with the national side, having broken new ground with Bafana.
When Broos took the reins in 2021, South Africa had failed to qualify for that year's Africa Cup of Nations and had grown accustomed to missing major tournaments altogether.
Five years later, they've reached consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments - making it to the semis in 2024, qualified for the World Cup, and then progressed beyond the group stage for the first time in history.
Perhaps even more significant than the results is the cultural reset that Broos has engineered.
"The mentality of the team has changed a lot," the 74-year-old reflected. "When I came five years ago and saw the first trainings, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had to stop training and say: 'hey, you had to work'.
"If something has changed in the national team, it's the mentality," he continued. "You need to change that if you want to have success.
"We fight for it for the 90 minutes. The intensity was high, the mentality was there. They wanted to die on the field, and that's something that has to stay in the team."
There's no doubting that Broos has improved Bafana's organisation, discipline and commitment to the cause; they went almost 270 minutes without conceding across their final three World Cup games, while their defensive rigour during their run to the AFCON bronze in the Cote d'Ivoire was one of the highlights of his tenure.
Captain Ronwen Williams believes that the transformation began with the way that Broos approached the role, and placed faith in the players he inherited.
"I can stand here all night and speak about coach Hugo," he told ESPN. "I believe that he installed belief inside this team since day one.
"I don't know what he saw in us, but on a daily basis, when people didn't believe in us, when our backs were against the wall, he was always the one supporting us, believing in us, and getting behind us.
"What he's done for this team - words can't describe. He's inserted not only a team but a country. He's brought a country together, and when you see the support that Bafana is getting, it's all down to the belief and what he brought into this team.
"What a human being," the skipper concluded. "He's like a father figure, a friend, a brother, a super coach. We learned so much from Coach Hugo, and if this is his last [tournament], he can bow out with his head held high because the boys showed up.
"They competed at the elite level, and I'm just proud to have worked with Coach Hugo."
These words hint at the personal bond Broos forged with his squad. While his tactical organisation and talent identification were essential - integrating a new generation of players into the fold, players repeatedly spoke about his honesty, consistently, and willingness to back them public during difficult moments.
He also proved willing to make unpopular decisions.
Established names were moved on, younger players - more likely to embrace a different approach - were given faith, while the playing style wasn't alway true to South Africa's footballing culture. However, that bravery ultimately produced a squad with a clear identity, a collective purpose, and a strategy for winning games.
Midfielder Thalente Mbatha echoed Williams' sentiments, while acknowledging that the players must now work to preserve and protect the culture Broos has created.
"We're really grateful to the coach," Mbatha told ESPN. "He gave us belief, and success for the South Africa team, so it's a matter of us continuing if he does decide to leave, because we don't know [for sure] yet.
"He's going to say in the coming days, as he's said, but for us, we must continue where he left us and believe that it's still going to happen."
Broos himself believes that this generation is better equipped than ever before to continue progressing because of the experience accumulated over successive tournaments.
"I think the players learned a lot playing at this level," he concluded. "It happened two AFCONs ago, and we began to understand what we needed. This step was harder to make, for the players to see and to feel what we have to do on the next level."
Ultimately, this may become the most enduring element of Broos's legacy.
Rather than leaving behind a team dependent on one head coach or a small cabal of senior players, Broos believes he's handing over a squad that has learned - under him - the standards required to compete internationally.
Of course, there will still be disappointment about how the World Cup has ended, but history will judge them positively, and will remember the coach who restored belief to Bafana, reconnected the national team with its fans, and convinced a generation of South African players that they belonged on football's biggest stage.
Whoever takes the reins now, Broos has ensured they inherit something clearly more valuable than he did five years ago, and his legacy will not be forgotten.