Broos faces World Cup selection headache

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has conceded that he will have a selection headache in future after several new players impressed during the latest camp, where Bafana played friendlies against Tanzania and Mozambique.

Bafana put in a top-drawer display to overcome Mozambique 2-0 in the second friendly at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Tuesday, having played a goalless draw against Tanzania at the same venue last Friday. Sinoxolo Kwayiba and Ashley Cupido scored the two goals that sank the Mambas.

“Everything is positive and this is something that'll make my job difficult in the next months, when you see that we had 23 players here and there are still maybe another 23, who weren’t here, so it means now I can choose from something like 40 players and that will be difficult because I’ll have to drop players in September ... players who maybe deserve to be with the team,” Broos said.

This camp excluded Mamelodi Sundowns players due to their club’s packed fixture programme. Some newcomers, such as Mohau Nkota, Khulumani Ndamane, Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Cupido, among others, showed promise.

“We played good football. There was depth in the way we played ... we kept the ball well, so I think it was a fantastic game for me with a group of players who hadn’t played together before we started the camp,” the Bafana coach said of the Mozambique game.

“This isn’t easy ... Friday was good, but there were still hesitations and there was no automatism, but today [on Tuesday] I didn’t see much of that.

“We started this camp with a bit of hesitation as the technical team because you can believe in a player and you can see the player is performing well in his club, but this is another level and you still have to wait [to see if a player is ready for Bafana or not], but the boys were very good.”

Broos is convinced that no Bafana player will now rest on their laurels. “Players will also be more motivated now because they know that there’s others behind them, waiting to take their places and that will increase the level of the national team,” Broos said.

Bafana will next assemble in September for World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Nigeria.