Hugo Broos braced for tough AFCON squad selection | OneFootball

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Broos set for difficult decisions on AFCON squad

Photo: Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has made an honest admission that finalizing his squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) won't be an easy task.

South Africa have been pitted in Group B alongside record seven-time African champions Egypt, Angola and neighbors Zimbabwe.

With the continental showpiece on the horizon, Bafana beat Zambia in their final preparation match and Broos says the intention of the friendly game was to give fringe players a run in the team.

“I am already thinking about the day that I have to announce 23 players - it will not be easy, certainly for certain positions. So, it will be very difficult and what happened today [Saturday] is that you give play time to players who didn't play so much in the past,” he said.

"The goal was to see how they react, adapting to the team tactics and to the team play. Again, I'm certainly satisfied, not 100%, but I wanted to see what I saw today [vs Zambia] and I think that those guys [who came in] the second half, we can use them for the future and maybe already for AFCON.

"[Khulumani] Ndamane also today was hesitating but you saw him play the last game against Rwanda, he was good. So, it's not so easy to come into the game.

The Belgian mentor conceded that he has a plethora of players who deserve to be on the plane to Morocco compared to two years ago in Ivory Coast, bracing himself for tough calls.

“I know what was so easy two years ago will now be difficult to do because we have more than 23 players who can go to AFCON and who deserve to go to AFCON,” Broos admitted.

"But the decisions will be made by me and some of them will be maybe painful for the player but also for me personally because It's not a nice thing to drop a player.