Broos satisfied with Bafana camp, eyes AFCON opener despite absentees

Hugo Broos has described himself as pleased with how the Bafana Bafana camp for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations has gone so far, despite the absence of three key players who will only link up with the squad in Marrakech, Morocco.

Lyle Foster, Siphephelo Sithole and Chandre Campbell are with their European clubs after featuring over the weekend, and the Belgian coach said it would not have made sense to have them travel to South Africa.

“I am happy with the camp till now,” Broos said, during a media conference ahead of Tuesday’s friendly international against Ghana at Dobsonville Stadium (kick-off 3pm).

“The mentality is good. The workload is good. The motivation is good.”

However, the septuagenarian admitted he has had to remind his players of a few basics on the training field.

“We have to go back to the basics,” he said. “It is not what I wanted to see when we talk about football technical things. There are some things that we were strong on that I didn’t see this time in training.

“Maybe it is because we are not complete, so it is not easy to do when some important players like Foster and Sithole are still not here. Ngezana arrived (Sunday). Sithole is playing (Monday), Campbell played 10 minutes (Sunday) and Foster played on Saturday, so we decided to let them come directly to Marrakech.

"There was no need to have them here. We will see them on Thursday when we arrive.”

That, though, is a minor concern for the highly experienced coach, who is gearing up to challenge for a second AFCON title, having previously lifted the trophy with Cameroon in 2017.

“I am not worried at all, but the players are aware that the football technical things could be better in the next few days. We still have time before we arrive in Morocco,” he said.

Broos explained that Tuesday’s friendly will largely be used to give fringe players an opportunity to adapt to Bafana’s style of play.

“The game (Tuesday) is more of a training game than a selection game. I am happy we have a game, even against a team that is not the strongest, but we have a game,” he said.

“On the other side, I can leave some players out because they have small injuries and I don’t want to risk them getting more serious injuries and missing the AFCON. We will give the opportunity to other players to play and adapt a little bit to Bafana.”

He added that he would have tested his preferred starting line-up had the entire squad been available.

“If everyone was here, maybe we would play with the team that will start at AFCON, but now that they are not here, I can give opportunities to players who have not played much, like Thabang Matuludi, to adapt to the way of playing. It is a training game, not a selection game, but I still want to win it.”

Broos also reiterated the importance of a strong start at the tournament, particularly in the opening group match against Angola.

“We play against Angola and then we play against the favourites in our group, Egypt,” he said.

“Imagine if we don’t win against Angola — then we are going to play with a knife on our throats. We have to win that game. We have to be ready from the first minute and we have to win it.”