Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained why he called up new Kaizer Chiefs defender Rushwin Dortley to his latest squad.
Dortley, 22, is currently experiencing a silver-patch in his young career after securing a move to Kaizer Chiefs and captaining South Africa at the COSAFA Cup.
And his performances at the latter tournament have earned him a call-up to Broos’ senior team, with the Belgian coach insisting clubs in South Africa need to take the tournament more serious.
“That was something we were looking for, to have a left-footed central defender,” he said during the announcement on SABC1.
“Mothobi does it very well but there are moments in the game where he’s a little bit uncomfortable and this is normal, he’s a right-footed player.
“Again, I want to say COSAFA is important and people here in this country don’t understand it. Already three years we tried it, U23 of PSL players and every year it’s not possible because those players are not released.
“COSAFA is not a big tournament but it gives to the players who are there an international experience. We’ve now players who are coming to Bafana Bafana players with zero international experience.
“This is a tournament where we can see, ‘ok, this guy we can take him’ and that’s the case of Dortley. He played a very good COSAFA, he’s a left-footed central defender – why should I not take him?
“He played about 3-4 games in COSAFA. This is what mean, let us make a team of U23 players for COSAFA. It will help us.”
South Africa take on Uganda on 6 September before facing South Sudan away from home four days later.
