Bafana coach Broos makes another plea for young players to be made available for Cosafa and Chan

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has made another impassioned plea to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to make U-23 players available for selection for Cosafa Cup and Chan to gain international experience. 

Over the past years there were many players who were selected for Bafana with no junior national team experience or having never played at Cosafa Cup or Chan level. 

Speaking on Thursday when he announced the 23-man squad for next month’s group K 2025 Afcon qualifiers against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on September 6 and South Sudan four days later, Broos said a solution must be found to this long-standing problem. 

“The solution has to come from the league, they have to force clubs to release players for Cosafa Cup and that’s all,” he said. 

“Every year we make the list [of players for Cosafa Cup] but the list we make and the players we get is not the same — and we say these are not the players we need and there is nothing we can do because we have to play Cosafa Cup.  

“We are lucky now that Rushwin Dortley was playing for Cape Town Spurs and it was easier for them to release players, but that’s not enough.  

“Players such as Elias Mokwana and Grant Margeman, they must play Cosafa Cup before they come to Bafana Bafana. They have to play in that kind of tournament to get international experience. 

“Elias came with us at Bafana and it was his first international tournament. There is a gap, if you can take U-23 players from the PSL to play Cosafa Cup. You have players such as Moremi from AmaZulu, those type of players have to play Cosafa because it will be good for them.” 

The Cosafa Cup can help players as part of their preseason training, added Broos. 

“The tournament is during preseason, so what’s the problem? They may have even a better preseason because they will be playing in a tournament. We don’t succeed to have those players and this is a pity. 

“You see Dortley, Nyiko Mobbie and a few others before him, they were there at Cosafa Cup and we took them because we saw potential. I don’t know what the problem is but I think it will be a good initiative if we can take the players we want to Cosafa next year. 

“They play Cosafa and after that maybe Afcon or even Chan qualifiers, so that we don’t take players who are playing out of the country. We need those players who are playing in the PSL and who play for their clubs.”