Lorch’s brilliance at Wydad still can’t save his dream

KARMA might be real after all. And that’s why you have to feel for Thembinkosi Lorch, as his improper conduct on and off the field seems to have caught up with him.

- MIHLALI BALEKA

Lorch is playing some of his best football in a long while.

And while he was hoping for the grandest honour a footballer can get -— a chance to represent his country at major tournaments — the only recognition he’ll get now is the loud cheers and applause from the Wydad Casablanca passionate ultras.

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is not endorsing the return of the attacker to the national team — not now or in the near future. In fact, Lorch must forget about having an international career as long as Broos is still in charge.

Broos doesn’t see him as part of his plans. At 32 years old, Lorch is not the future, and he doesn’t offer enough to convince the Belgian to change his mind about an “overage” player — unlike what he did with the mighty Themba Zwane a few years ago.

And boy, that must sting. Broos made his stance clear just weeks before Bafana were set to compete at AFCON — ironically, in Morocco, where Lorch is based — next month, and ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup in North America next year.