Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has explained why he opted to drop Siyanda Xulu and Thapelo Maseko for Grant Kekana and Tapelo Morena.
The Mamelodi Sundowns duo came into the starting XI and were two of the standout players in the 4-0 win over Namibia to blow Group E wide open in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations campaign on Sunday evening.
Percy Tau, Themba Zwane’s brace and Maseko, ironically after being dropped were amongst the scorers at Le Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly in Korhogo, Ivory Coast, which Broos says was purely due to the profile of the Brave Warriors.
“You know there’s not so much difference between Grant and Siyanda, the only difference is Grant is faster,” Broos said on Sunday evening.
“And we needed a fast player there with Shalulile and their runners, Grant is faster and therefore we changed it, Siyanda wasn’t bad [against Mali], but it was more of a tactical choice, Grant had a very good game.
“Thapelo is identical, it was the same thing, we needed depth in our game, with [Morena] he is very quick, he’s also a guy we asked not to [receive] the ball to feet, get behind the [Riaan Hanamub] and the second goal was like that, Thapelo goes deep, good pass, cross and it’s a goal.
“So the changes we made were tactical – and yes okay after 4-0 I can say it was good choices, but that’s not important.”
South Africa moved into second in Group E with three points, one behind Mali with an identical goal difference going into the final rounds of fixtures in the group stages.
