Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has explained his decision to recall Mamelodi Sundowns striker Iqraam Rayners to the national team squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The experienced coach named the 26-man squad on Wednesday evening at the Union Building in Pretoria in the send-off ceremony before flying out to Mexico for the opening World Cup match on the 11th of June 2026.
Broos assembled his team that will do duty on the global stage, leaving some of the in-form stars, while he also welcomed back players who had lost their place in the national team.
The Belgian tactician snubbed Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen, who has been knocking on the door in the Bafana squad with his impressive performance that propelled Amakhosi to the third spot and sealed CAF Confederation Cup qualification.
Petersen was left out alongside his Chiefs teammates Lebohang Maboe and Thabiso Monyane after initially making the preliminary squad. The other players who missed out are Patrick Maswanganyi, Thapelo Morena, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel.
Meanwhile, Broos recalled Rayners and Thapelo Maseko to his team after the duo were left out of the team in the past few months, which included missing the 2025 AFCON in Morocco.
For the 2026 World Cup, the veteran coach has recalled Rayners and Maseko to increase firepower in the final third as South Africa is aiming for a great impression in the global showpiece.
In the just-ended season, Rayners has been in and out of Sundowns starting due to injuries and tough competition, among other things.
WHAT HUGO BROOS SAID ABOUT RAYNERS’ RETURN TO BAFANA BAFANA
With Rayners included in the Bafana squad, Hugo Broos says the 30-year-old is a different profile from the other selected strikers, Evidence Makgopa and Lyle Foster, which will give the team a different dimension in attack.
The goal poacher has featured in 36 matches across all competitions for Masandawana, scored 16 goals and provided three assists.
“Rayners was out of the team because of his health problems and he had a difficulty to get place in the team [at Sundowns] but the games that he played, he scored,” Broos said.
“So you know with Rayners he is always able to score, and he’s also a different type from the other two. So you have Foster, and you have Makgopa, who’s more of a tall guy.
“But now we also have him [Rayners]; he’s fast, he’s the one who has the smell of the goals. So we have opportunities now; we will choose between Foster, Makgopa, or Rayners. And during the game, if you have to change something, we have different types of players, and that’s why I wanted him to be with us.”
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