Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says he gets surprised to see certain national team regulars like Evidence Makgopa not getting game time at their club especially ahead of the FIFA World Cup this winter.
Makgopa, 25, has been a regular in Broos’ squad selections especially for important camps, qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. He scored the winner in the 3-0 defeat of Rwanda last October in the final 2026 World Cup qualifier in Mbombela.
However, the striker hasn’t enjoyed consistent game time at club level with Yanela Mbuthuma the preferred starter in the last couple of games. In Pirates’ last four outings, the Limpopo-born forward wasn’t in the match-day squad twice and came off the bench twice.
Broos was fielding questions regarding the team’s preparation for the upcoming World Cup in America and his selection criteria on MSWon947 on Tuesday where he mentioned his surprise at Makgopa’s omission at the club.
The coach said though he’s been in communication with Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou about other matters, not seeing national team players feature for their clubs makes his job difficult.
“And sometimes I’m surprised to see players who don’t play suddenly anymore,” said Broos.
“They’re on the bench or they’re not even on the bench, they’re on the stands. And I say what happens now?
“I can give you an example Makgopa don’t play anymore in Pirates. What is the reason? That makes my job difficult.
“Certainly when you go to the World Cup, when you take a player who didn’t play for months, you have a problem. For me it’s a surprise not seeing him play.”
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