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Bafana’s Broos – no more experimenting for October friendlies
'For this team having five or six basic (regular) players injured is too much,' said the Bafana head coach.
Lebo Mothiba impressed Hugo Broos with his efforts during the friendlies against Namibia and DR Congo. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Hugo Broos says that the time for experimenting with his Bafana Bafana line-up is over, and that for October’s friendlies he hopes have close to his full squad that will play in November’s Fifa World Cup qualifiers and the Africa Cup of Nations finals in January.
It was Lyle Foster who grabbed the winner for Bafana in the 25th minute, and the Burnley striker is among a core of players that look certainties to play in Broos’ preferred line-up.
Chances, over the goalless draw with Namibia on Saturday, and the win over DR Congo, were given to some fringe players, who had differing levels of success in raising their hands for selection.
“This is not the place to tell that,” continued Broos, when asked which of Bafana’s outsiders had not impressed him over the two games.
“This is something I have to discuss with my technical staff tomorrow, before I go back to Belgium.”
The proof will ultimately be in the squad that Broos selects for the October friendlies against Swaziland and the Ivory Coast, but places are likely to be few and far between if some of the Bafana coach’s regulars return from injury.
Too many injuries
“For this team having five or six basic (regular) players injured is too much,” said Broos.
“We were without Themba Zwane, Teboho Mokoena, Bongokuhle Hlongwane and a few others.”
Thapelo Morena, Luke Le Roux and Cassius Mailula were also missing from the squad that played Morocco in their final Afcon qualifier in June.
“It is a bit too much, we don’t really have a solution at the moment to replace them. It is still something we have to do for the future (find a solution) and hopefully it can happen for the Afcon and the qualifiers in November.”
One player that did impress Broos, even though he did not hit the back of the net over the two games, was Strasbourg striker Lebo Mothiba, who made his first appearances since 2019.
“On the first day of camp I said Mothiba is a profile of player we don’t have. I am very happy with what I saw, certainly here (against the DRC) with the 20 or 30 minutes he played. We don’t have a player like that … someone like him who is strong and good at holding the ball up, and good with his head.”
