Former Mamelodi Sundowns defender Phelelani Mpangase has made his thoughts available on the exclusions of Mamelodi Sundowns duo Andile Jali and Rivaldo Coetzee from the Bafana Bafana squad.
Coach Hugo Broos named a 24-man squad to face Zimbabwe and Ghana in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and the Bafana coach’s selection has become the talking point in the football circle.
Mpangase says, as much as he feels some players like Jali should be there, he understands the intention of the coach and believes that the current crop of players in the national team are top performers too.
“I believe this is a good squad. Hugo Broos is working on a vision of trying to make sure that we see young and new faces in the Bafana Bafana set up. I believe they’ve done very well,” Mpangase said in a recent interview.
“The players he has been selecting, have made us proud. They’ve managed to swim in the deep of African football under pressure with no experience.”
With Jali and Coetzee doing well for their clubs, however, Mpangase believes that at least one of them should be in the squad to help the youngsters.
“Although I strongly feel a player like Andile Jali or Rivaldo Coetzee, one of them should be in the Bafana Bafana set up to guide those boys. Somewhere and somehow, you still need such players in these games even if they don’t make it in the starting line-up.
“But we will always have our own opinions about the squad. With that said, we can only support the coach because the results are coming and new players are getting more opportunities to shine which is also good for our football, Hugo Broos can’t make everyone happy,” he added.