Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained why he opted to play Njabulo Ngcobo out of position in midfield against Ethiopia.
The Kaizer Chiefs defender replaced the injured Mothobi Mvala in central midfield in Bafana’s 1-0 victory over Ethiopia on Tuesday.
Broos has now explained that he thought Ngcobo could fulfil the role after previously also playing in midfield for his club.
“First of all Mvala was injured and he becomes a very important player for us in that midfield,” he told Thomas Mlambo on the Ultimate Sport Show.
“He is a type of player with some qualities that we need in that position.
“I thought that the best solution was to put Njabulo there, because the other one is Zuke but it was his first cap and such an important game so it’s a little bit dangerous to put the guy on that position – a crucial position for our team.
“I thought with Njabulo, he played in his team also in that position and I thought maybe it was the best solution.
“It was not only that, the midfield of Ethiopia was very strong but ok, they were better than we yesterday, but again our mentality did win us the game.”
Broos also gave an update on Mvala’s injury, explaining that it is not too serious and he should be back for the next international break.
“I hope (he will be ok). This is something we have to see in the next weeks,” he added.
“I really hope he will be there for the games against Zimbabwe and Ghana.
“He has a muscle injury. I think it’s not so bad because he stopped at the right moment. We didn’t force him anymore, he felt something on Sunday and the doctor said he should go for a scan.
“So we didn’t force him to play because the risk was always there, if we forced him to play that there was a risk to sub him. The good thing for him is that he stopped immediately and can now be assessed by his club.
“He has three more weeks until the next international break.”
South Africa face Zimbabwe at home on 11 November before traveling to Ghana for the potential Group G decider on 14 November.