No Foster or Kaizer Chiefs player in Broos’ Bafana preliminary squad

There was no place for any player from Kaizer Chiefs when Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos named a 34-man preliminary squad for his team’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Morocco at FNB Stadium on June 17.

The match is a dead rubber as both teams have qualified for the Nations Cup from Group K, but the arrival in SA of the 2022 World Cup semifinalists and No 1 ranked team in Africa has still been keenly anticipated.

Another absence from Broos’ squad named on Tuesday is of promising striker Lyle Foster, whose Burnley clinched the English Championship title earlier this month, earning the Lancashire club a place in the Premier League next season.

With Broos’ squad conveyed via a press release from the SA Football Association (Safa), and no explanation given for Foster’s exclusion, his absence is a mystery. 

Given Broos included many of his front-line players, including Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena, Themba Zwane and Percy Tau, Orlando Pirates youth product Foster’s absence might raise eyebrows.

Chiefs, who have gone eight seasons without a trophy and finished a disappointing fifth as the Premier Soccer League (PSL), have no representatives among the 34 players.

Runaway league winners and Caf Champions League semifinalists Mamelodi Sundowns have 10 players included. PSL runners-up Orlando Pirates have four, as do third-placed SuperSport United.

Coach Walid Regragui’s superb Morocco made history becoming the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal in Qatar in December.

The Atlas Lions lost 2-0 to eventual runners-up France in the last-four, and 2-1 to Croatia in the third-place playoff.

While they have clinched their qualification already, Bafana, ranked 66th in the world and 12th in Africa, are eager to try for a morale-boosting win against the crack North Africans, who are ranked 11th in the world.

A measure of the seriousness with which Broos is approaching the game is he has had Safa arrange an additional week’s prematch camp mostly for his local-based players, for which the association has apparently secured backing from Premiership clubs, from May 31 until the full squad assembles on June 11.

“The preliminary squad will be trimmed to 23 players early next month when Broos announces his final list for the match,” Safa said.

Bafana lost 2-1 to Morocco in their opening Group K game in Rabat in June 2022.