'Mobbie never disappointed me,' Broos says of his regular Bafana right-back
Image: Michael Sheehan/Gallo
If anyone was hoping to see Nyiko Mobbie disappear from the Bafana Bafana set-up they must take a chill because Bafana coach Hugo Broos insists the Sekhukhune United right-back is going nowhere.
Mobbie, who was an unused substitute in Sekhukhune’s recent league game against TS Galaxy, has been a regular in the senior national team since Broos was appointed in May last year.
Mobbie got the first of his 14 national team caps under Molefi Ntseki in 2019, but 10 of his past matches, including six 2022 World Cup qualifiers Bafana played last year, were earned with Broos.
Despite many, including former Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane, questioning Mobbie’s selection, Broos has stuck to his guns and repeatedly said the defender has done nothing to warrant him being dropped.
Mobbie, 28, will be part of the Bafana team selected by Broos to play two friendlies against Mozambique and Angola at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga later this month.
Asked why he consistently selects Mobbie, Broos said: “Nyiko Mobbie has never disappointed me. Never, except against France [a friendly game Bafana lost 5-0 in March] and this was not only his fault.
“He was always between two players. No, actually between three, because [Kylian] Mbape counts for two [Broos laughs]. For this guy ... really it was very tough for him in that game.
“And they killed him after the game, saying ‘huh, this Mobbie doesn’t have the talent to play for Bafana Bafana’. Mobbie never disappointed me, and that’s why he’s with us.”
Broos said he can’t change the core of his team, which includes Mobbie, because he’s missed one or two games.
“Just because he’s not played in the past two games we have to take him out of the team? [Themba] Zwane is not playing at [Mamelodi] Sundowns but I’m not taking him out of the team. This is not the way, too, for Mobbie.
“It’s important that you keep your players and have a standard team and standard selection. It’s very important.
“But I agree that if some of those players are not playing for four or five weeks, it’s difficult for me to keep such players. But it’s not because suddenly he has not been playing for two games, then I have to change.
“There are some players in the squad I selected who didn’t play last week and one of them is Zwane.”
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