Hugo Broos laments injuries ahead of crucial World Cup Qualifiers | OneFootball

Interview

Broos bemoans injuries to key players ahead of World Cup Qualifiers

Photo: Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has bemoaned injuries, having named a couple of new faces in his latest final squad for the crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against Lesotho and Nigeria.

The 2023 AFCON bronze medalists will square off against Lesotho at the Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium on Friday, 05 September, before tackling fierce rivals, the Super Eagles of Nigeria four days later.

With the matches looming and several key players unavailable due to injuries, the 72-year-old Belgian mentor ranked the latest camp as one of the most difficult to prepare since taking over the reins in May 2021.

“It’s maybe one of the most difficult preparations I’ve had since I became the coach of Bafana Bafana. We have a lot of injuries on important players, first of all [Nkosinathi] Sibisi is not there, [Ime] Okon is injured, Themba [Zwane], you know he was playing but he’s injured,” said Broos.

“[Sphephelo] Sithole played his first game this weekend but he’s still not there [fit enough], [Deano] Van Rooyen, [Grant] Kekana, and today [Monday] we had to tell [Patrick] Maswanganyi to go home again after the injury of yesterday [Sunday].

Broos went on to clarify why he opted to release the Orlando Pirates playmaker from the squad, stressing that there’s no ample time to gamble on the player’s fitness, with games coming thick and fast on an international level.

“The reason why we took that decision is that we are not sure, we don’t have any guarantee that Tito will be ready for the game of Friday. It’s very difficult in a national team where you have only three or four days to prepare for a game, to wait [for a player to be fit],” he added.

“It’s easier when you are in a club, you have five or six weeks of pre-season and then you have all the trainings. So, I think statically everyone knows approximately what the coach wants. This is different, we have to do it in three or four days.

“And when you can’t count on a player the first two days, and maybe the third day, I think the decision is right that you have to say to Tito, ‘sorry go home, we can’t take that risk’.