Bafana coach Broos explains why Mbokazi did not go to U20 World Cup

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos had a big say in the decision to leave Orlando Pirates’ rising defensive star Mbekezeli Mbokazi out of Amajita at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Chile.

Mbokazi, 19, is eligible to represent South Africa at the tournament, where they lost their opening match to France and beat minnows New Caledonia, but Broos said he needed the burgeoning young centreback for Bafana Bafana’s huge World Cup qualifiers this month.

This is the second time Mbokazi has missed out on a major junior tournament after he sat out the Caf U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in May, where Amajita became the first South African champions of the tournament.

Pirates could not release the player for the U-20 Afcon in Egypt as they had major Caf Champions League matches, including losing to Pyramids FC in the semifinal.

Mbokazi, who played a major role in Pirates winning their fourth successive MTN8 title last month, is a key figure for the Buccaneers. That was reinforced in emphatic fashion this weekend as the burly young defender smashed a wonder goal from close to 40m and secured Bucs a 1-0 Carling Knockout Cup last 16 win against Siwelele FC at Orlando Stadium.

After his scintillating form for Bafana in last month’s World Cup qualifiers in Bloemfontein, including a man-of-the-match performance in the 1-1 draw against Nigeria, it is perhaps no surprise Broos wants him for even bigger matches this month.

Fifa’s docking of three points from South Africa for the fielding of ineligible Teboho Mokoena against Lesotho in March has left previous leaders Bafana (14 points and a +3 goal difference) in second place in Group C and in need of wins against Zimbabwe at Moses Mabhida Stadium on October 10 and Rwanda at Mbombela Stadium on October 14 to overtake top-placed Benin (14 points, +4 difference). Broos, then, needs all the match winners he can get his hands on.

“I spoke to the [SA U-20] coach [Raymond Mdaka] and told him it’s very difficult to let him go if you look at his performances during recent friendly matches and against Nigeria,” Broos said. “After that, you can’t tell me now he has to go to the U-20 tournament — not when you have two important games in October against Zimbabwe and Rwanda.

“If we had already qualified, then I would say he could go to the U-20 World Cup. And the coach understood that. He was going to be much stronger with Mbokazi in the team, but those are choices we had to make.

“We can’t forget he is a regular player for Pirates, he is not the guy who plays one game and he is on the bench for the next one.”

Broos said Mbokazi’s situation is different from the one of Shandre Campbell, the 20-year-old striker who is not playing regularly for Belgian Pro League side Club Brugge and is also not at the U-20 World Cup.

“I was in discussions with Club Brugge with regards to Shandre Campbell and they didn’t want to release him because they said they wanted to give him chances. But in the last seven, eight or nine matches, he was on the pitch three times. In two of those it was for the last 10 minutes and recently it was seven minutes.

“This is not giving a young player a chance — [rather] let him to go the World Cup and play there. There is a big difference with Mbokazi because he is already a standard player now for Bafana. You can’t tell such a player to go and play with the U-20s when the senior national team still has two important games to play.”

In the win over Lesotho, Mbokazi partnered Thabo Moloisane in central defence, then it was Siyabonga Ngezana against Nigeria. With Ngezana not available for these two matches, it remains to be seen who Mbokazi will combine with at the back.

The 3-0 win awarded to Lesotho by Fifa’s disciplinary committee has changed the dynamics on Group C.

“We are going to prepare for the two games in detail, we are going to train well and have one meeting because I don’t like meetings,” Broos said on how he will broach that subject with his players when they get into camps. “I don’t want to talk to the players every day, they are professionals and they know what they have to do.

“We are going to prepare like we have done in previous games, and knowing the guys, they will be ready on Friday to win that first game and go again on Tuesday.”

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