Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained why he opted against calling up centre-back Siyabonga Ngezana for the international friendly match against Zambia.
A 3-1 victory at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday set the AFCON tone for South Africa, who will be bidding for their first continental trophy since 1996. Going into the Chipolopolo match, there were major talking points about Broos’ squad.
That included the omission of Thembinkosi Lorch, Relebohile Mofokeng, Ngezana and Shandre Campbell.
In dropping Ngezana, Broos opted to go with Orlando Pirates duo Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Nkosinathi Sibisi, TS Galaxy’s Khulumani Ndamane and Thabo Moloisane of Stellenbosch FC. Ndamane was handed 45 minutes of play after coming on for Mbokazi at halftime, while Moloisane was an unused substitute.
That highlights the depth Bafana have in central defence, while the coach also excluded the experienced Grant Kekana and Ime Okon.
Broos has suggested the Bafana AFCON door is not closed on Ngezana, explaining his decision not to pick the Romania-based star.
BROOS OPENS UP ON HIS NGEZANA OMISSION
“It was a good week again, a good mentality, a good work attitude in training. Those guys want to win every game, even when we didn’t play our best game, we won,” said Broos.
“There are still players who were not here, like, for example, Ngezana. I didn’t call him up because I wanted to give chances to other players and to see if we can use them in the future for AFCON.
“So, I think we can be happy with what we saw today [Saturday], and we can be confident about what is coming. It will be much more difficult than today’s game, that is for sure. But I think we will also be better in a month.
“We will try to do what we did the last time, maybe even better if it’s possible. But again, it is AFCON, and it is not easy. It’s so intense, every team wants to show how good they are, but I’m confident South Africa will be ready.”
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