Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has made an honest admission about including Al Ittihad attacker Thembinkosi Lorch in the national team following his impressive form.
Lorch was last in the squad in June 2022, and his absence from Bafana has been a hot topic of discussion under Broos’ leadership with many believing he deserved a spot in the team even during the last two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in Ivory Coast and Morocco.
Broos was speaking on MSWon947 with Robert Marawa about the team’s preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday. The Belgian mentor admitted that the Al-Ittihad player is doing well but his biggest worry is who would the 32-year-old replace in the World Cup bound team.
“First of all, I think it’s many supporters, because it’s already four months that people are talking about him but people forget,” said Broos.
“People forget what Lorch did in the last two, three years. He was leaving [Orlando] Pirates. You leave the team, not because you are a big star. He went to [Mamelodi] Sundowns he left Sundowns, and I think he was happy that Rulani [Mokwena] was in Morocco, where he could go.
“And now I’m honest, I’m honest he plays good. He plays good, but then we are coming to what we talked about few minutes ago. If you take Lorch, tell me who doesn’t have to go to the World Cup? Knowing that Lorch is a player who plays behind the striker, tell me. Okay, I take Lorch, I can’t go with 26 [players] who has to go out?
“And when I see that, then it’s very difficult for me to take a player who was never with us and drop a player who was always with us. And therefore, again, what you call it, choice, that you make is not always a sportive choice. It can also be, yeah come on, those guys are always with us they didn’t disappoint, why should I change that?
“I think Lorch was once with us, qualification game for AFCON Ivory Coast in Morocco. And okay you don’t judge him on that, but he was playing good in Pirates that moment. It was very bad in the national team, and maybe that level is maybe a little bit too high for him, also, I don’t know, maybe.
“But again, for me, it’s what we talk about, is the dynamic of the team, and what we talked about few minutes ago, you can’t change every time because a player is playing good and putting someone else out who was always there.”
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