Please understand Broos

Coach Hugo Broos' squad announcement on Monday afternoon drew many reactions as expected. In fact, there were mixed feelings with some believing he has selected the best players available while others felt the Belgian coach left out a couple of more deserving players.

- 

Before we go any further, it is important to acknowledge and salute coach Broos' decision not to include Mamelodi Sundowns attacker, Themba Zwane, in his team to Morocco where Bafana will be taking part in the 35th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations from December 21-January 18. One has always been of a view that, for as long as Mshishi doesn’t get to play at club level, he will not be ready enough to play at Afcon. The last thing we need is to rush the 36-year-old into more intense football at AFCON level which would have detrimental consequences because he has hardly played enough games at his club to even be considered for a place in the national team. If he were to be called up, the coach would have to play him as there would be no place for a 'luxury player' in the 25-man squad. We were worried that coach Broos, against his better judgement, might give in to the temptation to rope the experienced campaigner into the team but his squad announcement gave us a huge sigh of relief when the player's name was omitted from the list. Surely, there was a conversation between the coach and the player about this situation before the squad was announced, because Mshishi remains an experienced and influential player in the squad.