A former Bafana Bafana star has questioned Hugo Broos’ selection criteria in light of the Belgian’s 23-man squad that will be engaging in friendly international against Nambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Teko Modise, the former SuperSport United, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Cape Town City star who represented the country on 66 occasions and scored 10 goals, says Broos needs to stop being selective in the teams he watches and must also start developing an identifiable playing pattern for Bafana.
Speaking to a media contingent at Durban’s Kings Park Stadium on Sunday after he’d completed the 5km Fun Run during the Hollywoodbets Durban 10km, the man who now works as football analyst on SuperSport did not mince his words as he lamented the coach’s selection criteria, the national team’s lack of identity and Broos’ influence on how the team plays.
“I have an issue of the right-back (position) because I still feel that there are a lot of players that are being overlooked. I especially think that (Deano) Van Rooyen of Stellenbosch (FC) has been overlooked. If you look at the tam and how they perform, the players that he (Van Rooyen) is competing against in that position, he is one of the best in the country.”
Broos keeps the faith
Broos has once again kept faith in his favourite player Nyiko Mobi for the right-back position although he could also use Grant Kekana and Nkosinathi Sibisi in that role.
And Modise is of the view that van Rooyen would not have missed out on selection had he been playing for a different club: “But we would be having a different conversation if he was playing for one of the bigger teams.”
The issue of Bafana coaches focusing on the country’s bigger teams for their selections is an age-old problem that has seen many a good players missing out on earning caps for their country because they played for ‘the wrong team’. The man they nicknamed ‘The General’ during his heyday would love to see it coming to an end.
“If we really, really want to compete, then the national team coach needs to watch every team. Don’t be selective and say these are the type of teams I need to watch. I feel like there are a lot of players who are not playing their best because of their surrounding, not because they are not good players.”
Ashley du Preez could be the key
Modise also thinks Kaizer Chiefs’ Ashley Du Preez would have been a useful inclusion to the squad, particularly as a compliment to the strikers Percy Tau and Zakhele Lepasa.
“We have Du Preez who has not been selected for the national team. If we do select based on form – he’s not scoring but he is on form, because I analyse games and I do them week in and week out. If Percy and Lepasa are tired, do we have the players who can run around the opposition defenders and cause problems? We don’t have. And I think Du Preez could be the answer for that.”
He believes that given the huge number of Sundowns players making the squad, given the club’s dominance locally, the national team often takes on the Sundowns way of playing.
“It’s not a bad thing. There are a lot of things that Bafana can do differently from Sundowns but Hugo Broos has to have his own identity because if he does not he will be influenced by the Mamelodi Sundowns style of play. But we (Bafana) need to have some kind of system because for the national team, you need to select players who will fit into your system. And the question is; does Hugo Broos have a system?” I am not sure.”