Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained the reason behind omitting midfielder Kobamelo Kodisang and striker Lebogang Mothiba from his squad.

Mothiba last featured for the senior national team back in 2019 under then-coach Molefi Ntseki in their 1-0 victory over Sudan.

But a serious knee injury kept him out of action for almost two years before turning to the field on 16 January 2022 when he was named on the bench for Strasbourg against Montpellier.

However, Broos admits that he kept Mothiba out of the squads as he needs more game time after returning from a long injury layoff.

“For Mothiba it’s simple, he’s been with the team for two weeks and he’s just playing half an hour and 15 minutes or something like that, is that a standard to take a player? I don’t know, I don’t think so,” he said.

“You need to do well with performances, one after the other, he was injured was a long time and he didn’t play for [Troyes] last year – so let’s see what happens.”

🗣️”Is that a standard to take a player I don’t know ?”

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos on the omission of French-based striker Lebogang Mothiba from the latest squad.

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— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) November 8, 2022

The Bafana coach went on to further explain his reasoning behind keeping Kobamelo Kodisang out of the squad, despite his recent form for Portuguese outfit Moreirense.

“With Kodisang it’s the same, he was playing in the Olympics, and then he was with Braga in the third division and he didn’t play [for the first team] and now suddenly he’s good,” he said.

“Okay… let him go on [and continue] being good and then we’ll have a very good player in March, so I don’t want to take Kodisang and replace another one, because the players who were there in September satisfied me, expect [one or two], but they satisfied me.

“You can see by the selection I made – but again, we have an eye on Kodisang and when he goes on like this, he certainly will be there in March.”

Coach Broos also give reasons why Portuguese-based midfielder Kobamelo Kodisang hasn’t been called despite having been on form from the beginning of the season at his club.

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— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) November 8, 2022

Photo by Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix