Hugo Broos happy with Bafana’s new depth

Hugo Broos is pleased with the growing depth in his team where Percy Tau can go absent for almost a year and Themba Zwane and Sphephelo Sithole are injured and Bafana Bafana still win big games.

The coach was impressed at how Bathusi Aubaas in midfield for Sithole, and Patrick Maswanganyi at playmaker for Zwane, stepped up in SA’s 2-0 away 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying win against Uganda on Friday and home 3-0 victory against South Sudan on Tuesday.

He admitted Maswanganyi, who scored a beauty off the bench in Kampala and another well-taken goal starting at Cape Town Stadium, is not yet the finished product.

Talked about as candidate to replace veteran and long-time injury concern Zwane at some stage, the Orlando Pirates player still has some work to do before matching the Mamelodi Sundowns veteran’s intelligence, vision and decision-making. But he has skill, a deft first touch, the ability to run at defenders and a nose for goals. 

“I’m very happy with the performance of Patrick,” Broos said. “I said it before — we need to look after someone who can replace Themba. Unfortunately we had to do it earlier.

“I wanted Themba to still be with us now because I know how important he is for the team, but what Patrick showed makes me happy.

“It’s not really what we want but I asked him to play differently from at Pirates. So it’s a bit about him adapting to the way we will play — but he has the potential, otherwise I wouldn’t select him.

“On Friday he scored, today [on Tuesday] he scored and certainly that will give him a bit of confidence.”

Aubaas provided much-need muscle in the two victories that were rendered meaningless in terms of qualification by South Sudan’s win against Congo on Thursday, which guaranteed Bafana’s progression. The victories were still important in terms of momentum, confidence and SA topping group K.

“When you try to build a team, you always try to have complementary players,” Broos said.

“So on one side you have Teboho [Mokoena] — good player, maybe a bit less power. So [alongside him] you need the guy with more power, who is maybe not the best player, but to push your team forwards.

“That was Sithole before. That’s why we had such a good Afcon in January [winning bronze] — because they [Sithole and Mokoena] were complementary. Sithole is not there any more and I always love Bathusi.

“Bathusi is not the finest player to give the final pass but there is power. And you need that in modern football.

“It’s something that is normal that in football you have to be technically good. But there is [also] the physical side of football — to be able to play for 90 minutes but also to have that power.

“And we have that power in our team now. That’s why we have been able to get such great results, why we can complete with teams like Algeria and Ivory Coast, like we did in March and last year in November [in away friendly draws]. 

“That’s why I always try to do this, to [bring through young] players like [Relebohile] Mofokeng, [though] it’s still a bit early now to start him. But Mofokeng is not a powerful player, so you need someone next to him that can do the work for him.

“It’s not a choice like this [indicates picking from the air], ‘Ah, this is a good player, we’ll choose him’. No, you have to build a team. And we did this for the past two years and we have a good team now.”

Bafana ended with 14 points in group K, Uganda 13, Congo four and South Sudan three.