Broos urges new Bafana players to step up in friendlies

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos had mixed feelings when the camp for this week’s two friendly internationals started in Mbombela.

Bafana are preparing to play Mozambique on Thursday (8.30pm) and Angola on Sunday (3pm), both at Mbombela Stadium. Broos is using the two matches as part of Bafana’s preparation for back-to-back 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Liberia in March.

Bafana lost their first qualifier 1-0 away to Morocco in June but since there are only three teams in their group, after Fifa’s expulsion of Zimbabwe, SA will qualify for the finals in Ivory Coast if they earn four points against Liberia.

“I’m here with mixed feelings. One, there’s happiness and the other side disappointment,” Broos said on Monday.

“I’m happy because we have a camp because there’s an enormous gap between [SA’s last games in] September and next year in March when we have to play against Liberia.

“I begged for a camp and I’m happy we have a camp, we have two games. These are two good opponents and so it will be a good test again in preparation for the two games in March against Liberia.

“The disappointment is because we can’t follow the plan. The plan was to play these two matches with about 75% of the guys we had in the last camp in September [for the friendlies against Sierra Leone and Botswana].

“When you see the list of injuries, we have [Thibang] Phethe, [Sphephelo] Sithole, [Innocent] Maela, [Nkosinathi] Sibisi, [Mihlali] Mayambela and [Lyle] Foster. And we have two guys, [Thapelo] Maseko and Percy Tau who are not playing for their clubs at the moment.

“I’m a bit disappointed because the plan was to play the same team that played against Sierra Leone and Botswana but with these injuries it’s not possible.”

Broos has encouraged the new players he has called up to make use of their opportunity if they want to cement their place in Bafana. New faces in the squad include Orlando Pirates midfielder Timm Miguel and forward Monnapule Saleng. 

“This is an opportunity for the players who were not here in September to show their qualities and force a place for selection in Bafana Bafana in the future. Our ambitions will not decrease because of the setbacks.

“I want victories like we had in September against Botswana and Sierra Leone. For the moment we have 20 players. There are a few players who are not here.

“First there is [Siyanda] Xulu [who was set to arrive late on Monday] — he played on Saturday evening [for his Azerbaijani club Turan-Tovuz IK]. 

“We had the latest yesterday morning. Foster phoned us that he couldn’t be with us, so we had to look for a replacement. I will not give so much comment on that but we have Bathusi Aubaas from TS Galaxy set to join the camp late on Monday.”

Broos’s team beat Sierra Leone 4-0 and Botswana 1-0 in the September friendlies at FNB Stadium.