Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has confirmed that he is “very angry” with departing Orlando Pirates star Mbekezeli Mbokazi after he missed his flight and will arrive late in the national team camp.
The South African men’s national team are having a training camp at the High-Performance Centre in Pretoria ahead of departing for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco next week.
Bafana will face Ghana’s CHAN team in a warm-up friendly match on Tuesday, 16 December before traveling to Morocco the following day.
However, all players were expected to arrive in camp this week, with Mbokazi being a late arrival after missing his flight from Durban to Gauteng.
Broos confirmed he is not happy with the situation and will be having a serious talk with the young defender.
“Mbokazi, he just arrived or will arrive in 15 minutes,” Broos told the media at the Bafana camp.
“I didn’t want to talk about it, but you asked the question, and you have the right to know that I’m not pleased about it.
“He let us know that he missed his flight yesterday in Durban, it was the coach of Pirates who informed me. And he was very angry that he missed his flight because, and that’s his word, ‘it’s an unprofessional attitude’.
“And I think I spoke already to you about unprofessional attitude of South African players. Again, an example of it. Then Pirates sent me a message with nonsense – really nonsense, why he missed his flight and I will not tell you what they said – and that is the worst thing that a club protects the player of his unprofessional attitude.
“This is South Africa, and this is very bad – very, very bad. When you’re a 19-year-old guy and you receive a call-up from the national team for AFCON, and to play World Cup next year, and the coach gives you a few more days off, if you are somebody with a good attitude, you don’t even want those two days and you are here on Monday with the other players.
“So, I will have a chat with him after training. And I can assure you he is a black guy, and he will get out of my room as a white guy. Because that I can’t accept. But I know why, I know why. Suddenly Mboki is a star – he thinks he is a star!
“This is the attitude of a star, ‘I will decide when I come’. I will explain it to him. I’m very angry, very angry about his attitude.”
Saturday’s Carling Knockout Cup final was Mbokazi’s final game for the Buccaneers ahead of his move to Chicago Fire.
Did you know that the iDiski Times Digital Newspaper is completely free! Download it now by clicking the button below or fill in the form to have it sent to you every week.
