The camaraderie that’s brewing at Bafana Bafana with every passing camp pleases coach Hugo Broos, who now has a nice selection headache.
Bafana’s relatively young and new-look team completed an impressive international window at Peter Mokaba Stadium over the last 10 days.
They hosted Tanzania in a goalless stalemate in the first international friendly last Friday, before beating Mozambique 2-0 at the same venue on Tuesday night.
It turned out to be an impressive camp for Broos and his staff as they had doubts about the team’s unity after most players got their maiden call-ups.
But such is the continuous camaraderie between the Bafana players, who are usually rivals at their domestic clubs, Broos’ fears were allayed in no time.
“That (urge to play) will bring the level higher – certainly. The only thing that I want to say, which is amazing, is that there are 23 friends. That is something special,” Broos said.
“I said it already before that it’s not easy to be friends with your rival, because there are two defenders, (midfielders), strikers and so on.
“This is amazing. After the first two-three days, the conversations started to be louder, laughs were louder and jokes were there.
“So, that was nice to see as the coach because you know when that happens off the pitch, you can be sure that on the pitch, you have a team as well.
“So, I am pretty sure that on Friday and (Tuesday), we saw that we have a team that plays for each other and tries to win the game. That makes me very happy!”
Broos will be happier heading into the next window in September, in which they’ll face Lesotho and Nigeria in crucial 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
By then, most of the leagues across the globe, including the PSL, will have have resumed for the 2025/2026 season, extending Broos’ selection pool.
“Everything is positive about the past week, and this is something that will make my job very difficult in the next months,” the 73-year-old explained.
“When you see that there are 23 players there – you’ll see that there are other 23 players who are either with their clubs or at home. You can choose between 40 players.
“This will then become difficult because you have to drop players in September – players who’ll probably deserve to be there.
“But okay, I have to make the choice. That, however, also means that players will also be more motivated, as they’ll know that there’ll be guys behind them, waiting to play.”
The recent camp was largely made up of Orlando Pirates players due to the fact that their rivals from Mamelodi Sundowns are away on Fifa Club World Cup duties.
Sure, Sundowns’ troops have been the cornerstone of Bafana in the recent past, but their omission from the Polokwane camp is not the only thing that excites Broos as he maps the future.
“When I said already that the job will become more difficult, there are Sundowns players who played a very important role in the past,” Broos said.
“That is not only for the Sundowns players – but little by little, the team started to get older. I think when I saw the team selection in March, there were over 13 players over 30 years.
“So that means it’s time, little by little, to get the team younger. What we saw now – which was important – is to see how the players will react when they play for Bafana.
“There are some players that we certainly have to keep. Okay, we have to drop others. But I have never been afraid to drop players.
“I think of the collective side of the team, and not the player. We managed to create a good team, so we’ll try to do it now also – even when there are important games.”
