Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says he is proud of Sipho Mbule’s turnaround in the national team and he revealed a conversation he had with the midfielder before his revival in the national team.
Mbule returned to the senior national team during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Nigeria in September 2025, ending a four-year absence from the team – a period that was overshadowed by his reported disciplinary issues off the field.
The Orlando Pirates midfielder was impressive in the matches where South Africa collected four points from a possible six. The 27-year-old was called again to the final round of the qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Rwanda that saw Bafana book their ticket to next year’s World Cup to be hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada after 23 years.
Broos was asked, if the ‘Master Chef’ was an adequate number 10 with the technical team looking for a long-term replacement of Themba Zwane and the Belgian tactician stated the process of recalling Mbule and how he told the player that it was his second and last chance, adding that he is proud of how he did not waste the opportunity.
“Sipho was with us from the first day I was here and immediately I saw what a good player he was, but Sipho had other interests than football,” answered Broos when asked by iDiski Times about the midfielder after sealing qualification in Mbombela.
“And after a few times I didn’t call him anymore. When you see the career of Sipho, he played for [Mamelodi] Sundowns he plays for [Orlando] Pirates, he plays for the big teams and see what a career he has.
“That has to be much and much, much better. So, when we were looking for a replacement of Themba, okay, we tried Patrick [Maswanganyi] and then we were talking about Sipho.
“I said, yeah but Sipho you see, how is he playing, he had a good moment in Sekhukhune [United], but then it was again like that. So we talked about him, Helman [Mkhalele] and me and we said, okay, we will give him a chance.
“And from the first minute when he came with us, I called him and I said to him, ‘listen man, this is your second chance after this it is finished, it’s up to you. I give you a chance, if you don’t grab it with your two hands, it’s done. You will not ever be with Bafana Bafana as long as I’m coach. But don’t forget there is an AFCON in December and maybe a World Cup in July next year, do you want to be there?’
“He said yes. I said ‘okay, show me’.
“I never doubted his football qualities, but you saw how he’s fighting, how he’s running, and if you have the talent of Sipho, yeah, then you can be very happy as a coach.
“And I told him after the game, I said, ‘you grabbed your chance, congratulations for that’.”
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