Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained why he has not called up in-form Tashreeq Matthews, who reached double figures on goals and assists in Sweden.
Matthews, 23, finished the Swedish Allsvenskan with 10 goals and 10 assists for Sirius – meaning he was involved in the second-most goals in the league.
However, despite his impressive numbers, Matthews has been overlooked by Broos so far, and didn’t even make his preliminary squads, with many left wondering why.
Broos did admit in an exclusive interview with iDiski Times’ Lorenz Kohler that Matthews “is maybe one for the future” but also explained that he feels his height of 1.75m somewhat counts against him.
“I saw him playing in the Swedish competition, a few games,” he admitted.
“It’s a guy that has skills, but you see also in the duel, it’s a little bit difficult for him. He’s not tall, he is small, so yeah, at international level, this guy when he dribbles once, his opponent says, ‘Okay, next time, wait’. It’s not going to say immediately. ‘Oh, no, he’s little, oh, no, he’s not powerful’.
“But yes, if we have to choose between players, then sometimes we take the player who’s more powerful.”
Broos discussed that he has made a point of selecting taller and physically stronger players, but did admit that he’s trying to find the right balance between talent and physicality.
“If you are coming there with all players from under the 180 [cm], you miss power, you miss height. So football has changed now, it’s not anymore the little one who can dribble and is fast,” he added.
“No, it’s also power, it’s also body. And that’s something we look after also, because I was a little bit surprised in the beginning to have all those small players on the selection.
“And it changed now and every time we say to each other, Helman and I, ‘Hey, we have a big team now.’
“And it’s important to have them, but first of all, the talent is the most important thing. But if you have a team with talent and body, I think you have a good team.”
