Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos will contact his Kaizer Chiefs counterpart Molefi Ntseki to iron out a few issues after his return from Belgium.
Bafana Bafana assembled for camp yesterday, preparing for their two international soccer friendlies against Namibia and DR Congo at Orlando Stadium on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.
But Broos ruffled Kaizer Chiefs feathers prior to the Bafana camp saying Chiefs’ performances haven’t been up to standard this season, which is why he didn’t include any of their players in the 23-man squad.
Before his squad announcement, Amakhosi had a lukewarm start to the season, winning three games, drawing one and losing two across all competitions.
But Broos had a change of heart after seven withdrawals from the initial squad due to injuries, including replacing Mamelodi Sundowns skipper Themba Zwane with Chiefs winger Pule Mmodi.
The damage had already been done, though, with Ntseki taking a swipe at Broos for criticising his team’s performance during the build-up to their MTN8 semi-final first leg against Sundowns on Saturday.
Broos, speaking at a press conference at FNB Stadium yesterday, said he’ll contact Ntseki.
“After the game against Congo DR, I will go to Belgium for two weeks. And after that, I will contact Ntseki, because I know him very well,” Broos said.
“My first idea was to have him as my assistant but it didn’t work. So, then came Helman (Mkhalele), whom I am very happy with, don’t misunderstand me.”
And while Broos has stuck to sentiments that a club of Chiefs’ calibre has been below-par, he’s lamented the media for misquoting him by saying he said “Ntseki hasn’t changed anything at Chiefs”.
"I know that he (Ntseki) is upset because I said that (his) players don’t deserve to be Bafana Bafana players because of their current performances,” Broos said.
“I didn’t say ‘He hasn’t changed anything’ last Wednesday when I announced the 23 players (that’ll face Namibia and Congo DR) about the players of Kaizer Chiefs.”
Chiefs were on course to make it three wins in three games against the Sundowns, having taken the lead through Edson Castillo.
But a stoppage-time equaliser from Khuliso Mudau resulted in the match ending 1-1, with Sundowns taking a huge advantage to the second leg in Pretoria on September 23.
And despite that effort from Chiefs at FNB, Broos still believes “I don't think I said something wrong” about the team’s performance.
“When I said they didn’t deserve to be in the national team, I didn’t mean they don’t have the skills. But I meant that the performances are not enough for them to be in the Bafana team,” he said.
So, having made all the bold claims about Chiefs’ form, all eyes will be on Broos to better his team’s displays against Namibia and DR Congo in their preparations for the Afcon in Ivory Coast.
Broos, though, has warned the public to not raise their expectations after the withdrawal of key players.
“The result is not in the first place, taking into account all the players who couldn’t be present now and considering that we’ll change a lot in those two games,” Broos said.
“But that doesn’t mean we should be happy if we were to lose. We’ll play for a victory, like we did last year – where we played seven games, won five and drawn two. We don’t even have one defeat.”
@Mihlalibaleka