Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos admits that the day he announces the 23-man squad that will be going to the AFCON will be painful to some players even to himself.
South Africa wrapped up their preparations for next month’s continental showpiece in Morocco with a friendly win over Zambia with the Belgian mentor now facing a selection headache when he names his squad in the coming days.
In the recent squad that beat Chipolopolo 3-1 on Saturday in Gqeberha, there were quite a number of players that were not selected though they had previously been in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers squad and could make a comeback for the AFCON.
Broos mentioned that he was impressed with the players that were given an opportunity and it even made things difficult for him to select the final squad.
“I was already thinking about the day that I announce the 23 players it won’t be easy certainly for certain positions it will be very difficult.” Broos told the media.
“What happened today [Saturday] is that you give play time to players who didn’t play so much in the past to see how they will react, how they are adapting to the team tactics, to the team play again I am satisfied not 100%.
“Still, I wanted to see what I saw today and I think those guys that came in the second half we can use in the future maybe for AFCON.
“Ndamane today was a little bit hesitant, but you saw him playing the last game against Rwanda he was very good.
“Again what I know what was so easy two years ago is now very difficult to do because we have more than 23 players who can go to AFCON and deserve to go to the AFCON but the decision will be made by me but some of them will maybe be painful for the players also for me because it’s not a good thing to drop a player.”
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