Broos takes swipe at Mokwena over ‘injured’ ’Downs players

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is unhappy there were doubts that Mamelodi Sundowns’ seven late arrivals to his camp for two friendlies in Algeria would travel after statements by Downs coach Rulani Mokwena that some of them might have niggling injuries.

Indications from Sundowns and the SA Football Association (Safa) are the seven are en route to Algeria, but SuperSport United defender Siyanda Xulu might have had problems travelling. But Broos expressed his dissatisfaction nonetheless, continuing his back-and-forth with the coach of the club that supplied the bulk of Bafana’s starting XI as they won bronze at the recent Africa Cup of Nations.

Broos said it took Bafana a gruelling 30 hours to reach Andorra Annaba in Algeria, where they meet Andorra at Stade du 19 Mai 1956 on Thursday (11pm SA time), after a three-hour layover in Dubai and six hours in Algiers.

Eight players – seven from Sundowns and Xulu from SuperSport – were to join the rest of the squad, who left on Sunday.

Sundowns beat Maritzburg United 2-0 in their Nedbank Cup last 16 match in Pretoria on Sunday. SuperSport’s 3-1 win against Richards Bay was on Saturday, but the game was played in Durban so their players also could not depart Johannesburg on Sunday.

Bafana meet Algeria in Algiers next Tuesday.

Broos said defender Siyabonga Ngezana, who plays for FCSB in Romania, had "lost documents and for that reason couldn’t leave Romania".

The Bafana coach said the late arrival of so many crucial members of his squad for the game against 164th-ranked Algeria was not ideal.

"We are still waiting for eight players who played on Sunday. And they will arrive having done the same [30-hour] trip we had," Broos said. "We have a game on Thursday, so it’s only two days – it will be problematic for those players. And then there are some things I am not pleased about but I cannot go into detail. I just hope my fear will not be realised and we will have a positive feeling after the two games we have to play here."

Broos has had a testy relationship with Mokwena, the two often exchanging barbs in the media. The Bafana coach was not pleased his Sundowns counterpart said, after their win against Maritzburg, he rested several of the club’s Bafana
players "because they’ve got niggling injuries, and that’s really the truth".

"Are the injuries strong enough to keep them away
from Bafana? I don’t know because I think as a club we’ve always supported the national team agenda."

Indications are Broos felt Mokwena was angling to withdraw his players from the SA squad to work with them in Gauteng ahead of Downs’ Caf Champions League quarterfinal first leg match against Young Africans in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on March 30.

"If they are really injured they have to inform us and not talking [about it] with the press," Broos said in a digital press conference from Annaba on Tuesday. "We have a doctor. They [Sundowns] know the doctor’s phone number. So why don’t they call us and say they are not fit and give us a medical report?

"They didn’t do it, so that means [Sundowns’ Bafana players] are fit. I’m very sorry, I can’t go on rumours or maybe coach Rulani saying [things in the media], or maybe the technical director [Flemming Berg] telling me they are injured. Give me a medical report."

The coach said that he expected the seven Sundowns’ players in camp on Tuesday night. "I heard some rumours and read something from coach Rulani saying those players are not fit. Why is he talking to the press and why isn’t Sundowns’ medical staff contacting our medical staff?"

The coach said he thought Safa’s travel plans for the game might have been better.

"I know travelling in Africa is difficult but I think maybe we can prepare better for trips like that. When it’s 30 hours I think there have to be solutions where that can become maybe 20."