Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says he’s excited about the emergence of the left-footed defenders for the national team.
Upon his arrival with the national team four years ago, the Belgian coach lamented the lack of left-footed centre-backs as options for the national team.
However, Rushwin Dortley has come to the fore after his debut season in the top-flight with Cape Town Spurs, then a solid showing captaining the national team with Bafana Bafana before his lucrative switch the Kaizer Chiefs.
The 22-year-old has, however, been ruled out of the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers after undergoing knee surgery, while TS Galaxy talent, Kulumani Ndamane (20) who was meant to replace him did not have a passport and needed to be withdrawn.
Together with FK Molde-bound Samukelo Kabini, who turned 21 last week and 19-year-old Mbekezeli Mbokazi at Orlando Pirates, there’s now sudden emergence of options brewing for the future.
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“That makes me happy [to have these young players] because we’ve looked a long, long time to have left footed central defenders, we had always Mvala, Kekana, all right footed players playing there,” Broos said when asked about left-footed emerging centre-backs like Mbokazi, Dortley, Ndamane and Kabini.
“Now recently we’ve had Dortley and now he’s injured for the rest of the season – we have Ndamane, this one doesn’t have a passport, let’s hope next time we can have all those left footed central defenders. It would help us also.”
Broos named his 23-man squad last Thursday as they take on Lesotho and Benin for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
