Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has explained his decision to omit Kaizer Chiefs players from his recent squad for the two friendly matches next month.
Broos announced his 23-man squad, which will play friendlies against Tanzania and Mozambique on June 6th and 10th, respectively, with both games hosted in South Africa.
South Africa will face Tanzania at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium on Friday, 6 June, before taking on Mozambique at Loftus Versfeld Stadium four days later.
Last week, Broos named his preliminary squad, which included three Amakhosi players, Mduduzi Shabalala, Bruce Bvuma, and Yusuf Maart; however, the trio have been left out of the final team.
Meanwhile, the Belgian mentor had surprise inclusions in the squad after calling up Orlando Pirates‘ young midfielder Simphiwe Selepe, who made his senior debut at club level a few weeks ago. Interestingly, Selepe missed out on the SA Under-20 squad that won the AFCON in Egypt over a week ago.
WHAT BROOS SAID ABOUT LEAVING OUT CHIEFS PLAYERS
Speaking to the media after his squad announcement, Broos said Chiefs need to improve before their players can receive national team call-ups.
The Soweto giants missed out on a top-eight finish in the 2024/25 Betway Premiership season after ending the campaign in ninth position.
“For me, at the moment I don’t think I can select Kaizer Chiefs players, and I hope that they have a better season next year,” said Broos.
“Yes, they’ve won the Nedbank Cup, but I think that was the only highlight of their season; the rest was not so good. So I don’t think Chiefs supporters are happy with winning just the cup. We have to be honest, and I don’t have anything against Chiefs, but I have to be honest with my choices.
“Most of the time, it hasn’t been good for Chiefs; otherwise, a team like Chiefs can’t be number nine. They have to be number three, two, or one. It’s up to them to make good performances next season, and play like I expect of a top team.”
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