‘Mbule is a player who has many qualities,’ said the Bafana head coach.
Orlando Pirates midfielder Sipho Mbule has received a late call-up to the Bafana Bafana squad to play Lesotho and Nigeria in this month’s Fifa World Cup Group C qualifiers.
Bafana will play Lesotho on Friday and Nigeria on September 9 as they look to build on a five point lead in the group. Only the group winners are guaranteed a place at the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals.
Mbule was called in after his Buccaneers teammate Patrick Maswanganyi was forced out of the squad with an injury picked up in Pirates’ 3-0 win at Chippa United on Sunday.
“Today we had to tell Maswanganyi to go home after his injury yesterday,” said Broos.
“There is no guarantee ‘Tito’ will be ready for the game on Friday. When you can’t count on a player for two or maybe three days the the decision is right.
“I think everyone agrees that Mbule is a player who has many qualities. In the past years maybe we didn’t see what we expected, but he is an experienced player who can play in that position”
With an injury to regular playmaker Themba Zwane and now Maswanganyi, Mbule could get his chance in that role as early as Friday, after an impressive start to the season with Pirates.
Bafana have had one more forced change to their original squad. Defender Ime Okon was injured playing for Bundesliga 2 side Hanover on the weekend and has been replaced by Stellenbosch FC’s Thabo Moloisane.
South Africa were originally set to play both Lesotho and Nigeria at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Now, however, it seems with the pitch at the Free State Stadium in poor condition, Bafana will face Dikwena at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Mangaung instead.
The Lesotho game is an away fixture but Dikwena do not have a stadium in their own country that meets Fifa requirements.
In the meantime, there is set to be a frantic race to get the Free State Stadium in decent condition for the Super Eagles clash.
“We went to see the pitch last week. It was awful, such a bad pitch,” added Broos.
“It is in the control of Fifa and Caf. Suddenly we had a message on Saturday that we are not playing in that stadium (the Free State Stadium). We didn’t know where we had to play. Lesotho also didn’t know anything about it.
“Then yesterday we had a second letter saying we are playing Lesotho at the 2nd stadium in Bloemfontein (the Seisa Ramabodu). How is this possible? I don’t know.”
