Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has revealed he’s looking at three players in Europe to potentially bolster the squad for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers.
After 11 months into the job and at the back of their European tour where South Africa drew to Guinea 0-0 and lost 5-0 to France, which followed the unsuccessful 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign, Broos says he’s close to finding his best squad.
However, there are several players who have yet to get a chance in national team colours as he maintains he’s looking for young talent to take the nation to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and Canada 2026.
Broos hinted that they have been monitoring former PSV striker Simon van Duivenbooden, currently at Vitesse – who’s the only striker based in the Netherlands eligible to represent the country.
“It’s a little bit too soon now to tell already that there will be other players. One of the new faces for the start of the qualifiers there are still two months ago,” Broos said.
“So up to us also again in the league to see many games in the next weeks and to watch also the players who are playing abroad. There are players we know there are some other players; one in Holland, for example, the striker that we saw his last game so it’s one we need to look at again.”
Former Borussia Dortmund winger Tashreeq Matthews who is now at Varbergs Bois in the Swedish top-flight alongside former SuperSport United midfielder Luke Le Roux has also been in impressive form which he noted when stating they are being monitored by the technical team.
“And maybe the guys who are playing in Sweden so also there, we have to look at their games, and then decide if those guys can be with us in June. On the other side, again, [there are] several weeks now to go in the league and to watch maybe new players and to try to have a very good team to start [the] qualifiers in June.”
Bafana have been grouped alongside Morocco, Zimbabwe and Libera for the upcoming qualifiers with the top two teams advancing to Ivory Coast 2023.
Story: Lorenz Kohler.
