Bafana boss Broos upset at Mokwena’s comments about Sundowns players’ injuries

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is unhappy there were doubts that Mamelodi Sundowns’ seven late arrivals to his camp for two friendlies in Algeria would travel after statements by Brazilians coach Rulani Mokwena that some might have niggling injuries.

Indications from Sundowns and the South African Football Association (Safa) are the seven players are en route to Algeria, but SuperSport United defender Siyanda Xulu might have had problems travelling.

Broos expressed his dissatisfaction nonetheless, continuing his unfortunate back-and-forth with the coach of the club that supplied most of Bafana’s starting XI as they won bronze at the Africa Cup of Nations last month.

Broos said it took Bafana 30 hours to reach Annaba in Algeria, where they meet Andorra at Stade du 19 Mai 1956 on Thursday (11pm SA time) after a three-hour layover in Dubai and six hours in Algiers.

Eight players — seven from Sundowns and Xulu from SuperSport — were to join the rest of the squad who left late on Sunday. Sundowns beat Maritzburg United 2-0 in their Nedbank Cup last 16 match in Pretoria on Sunday. SuperSport’s 3-1 win against Richards Bay was on Saturday but the game was played in Durban so their players also could not depart Johannesburg on Sunday.

Bafana meet Algeria in Algiers on Tuesday.

Broos said defender Siyabonga Ngezana, who plays for FCSB in Romania, had “lost documents and couldn’t leave Romania”.

The Bafana coach said in a digital press conference from Algeria on Tuesday the late arrival of so many crucial members of his squad for the game against 164th-ranked Andorra is not ideal.

“We are still waiting for eight players who played on Sunday and they will arrive having done the same [30-hour] trip we had, so they will arrive this evening [Tuesday] at about 8pm or 9pm,” Broos said.

“We have a game on Thursday so it’s only two days — it will be problematic for those players.

“And then there are some things I am not pleased about but I cannot go into detail. I hope my fear will not be realised and we will have a positive feeling after the two games we have to play here.”

Broos has had a testy relationship with Mokwena, with the two often exchanging barbs in the media.

The Bafana coach was not pleased his Sundowns counterpart said he rested several of his club’s Bafana players after their win against Maritzburg “because they’ve got niggling injuries to be honest and that’s the truth”.

“Are the injuries strong enough to keep them away from Bafana? I don’t know because I think as a club we’ve always supported the national team agenda.”

Mokwena said Ronwen Williams and Teboho Mokoena have had their niggling injuries since their return from the Nations Cup.

Indications are Broos felt Mokwena was angling to withdraw his players from the South Africa squad to work with them in Gauteng before Downs’ Caf Champions League quarterfinal first leg match against Young Africans in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, on March 30.

“If they are really injured they have to inform us and not talk [about it] with the press,” Broos said on Tuesday.

“We have a doctor. They [Sundowns] know the doctor’s phone number. So why don’t they call us and say they are not fit and give us a medical report?

“They didn’t do it, so that means [Sundowns’ Bafana players] are fit. I’m sorry, I can’t go on rumours or maybe coach Rulani saying [things in the media] or maybe the technical director [Flemming Berg] telling me they are injured. Give me a medical report.”

The coach said he thought Safa’s travel plans for the game might have been better.

“I know travelling in Africa is difficult but I also think maybe we can prepare better for trips like that. Maybe we didn’t prepare the trip well, where you have to wait for three hours in Dubai and six hours in Algiers before you have a flight to Annaba.”

Williams, Mokoena, Thapelo Morena, Terrence Mashego, Aubrey Modiba, Grant Kekana and Themba Zwane are the Sundowns players called up to the Bafana squad.