Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed that he does not have a clean bill of health in his camp ahead of Tuesday’s international friendly match against Ghana at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto.
South Africa play their final warm-up game against the Black Stars ahead of the 2025 AFCON tournament. They open their campaign against Angola on December 22 as they bid to win the AFCON title for the first time since 1996.
Broos named his final 25-man squad he will take to the continental tournament in Morocco a few weeks ago, but he is currently working with a group missing three players. Burnley FC striker Lyle Foster, Club Brugge’s Shandre Campbell and Portugal-based Siphephelo Sithole will team up with the rest of the squad in Marrakech, where Bafana will be initially based.
Broos has opened up on the challenge of working without the full complement of his squad. He has also revealed that he has injuries in his camp based in Pretoria at the High Peformance Centre [HPC] and the cautious approach he will take against Ghana.
BROOS OPENS UP ON THE BAFANA CAMP CHALLENGES AND INJURY SITUATION
“When you talk about football’s technical things, there are things we were so strong in that I didn’t see in training. So I told all the players, and they are aware of it,” said Broos. “But maybe it is because we are not complete, and it’s not easy to implement the things we need when you are nine against nine. When important players are not yet there, like Foster, Sithole and [Siyabonga] Ngezana.
“I’m not worried, not at all. I think the players are also aware of football’s technical things, and those things need to be better in the next next days. But we still have time when we arrive in Morocco, so again, I’m not worried.
“The game of tomorrow [Tuesday] is more of a training game than a selection game. First of all, I’m happy that we have the game, even if it’s against a team that is not at its strongest, but we have a game, and that is what is important.
“On the other side, I can leave some players out of the team because they have minor injuries, and I don’t want to take a risk tomorrow and let them play and have more serious injuries and maybe miss AFCON.
“So, again, there will be other players we will give the opportunity to play and to adapt a little bit on the Bafana Bafana way of playing.”
In the event injuries wreak havoc in his squad, Broos might be forced to replace some players, and he has Kaizer Chiefs’ Mduduzi Shabalala, striker Iqraam Rayners and centre-back Thabo Moloisane on standby.
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