'Now you find them everywhere': Broos happy to see youngsters given a chance by PSL coaches

Bafana Bafana can only benefit with most Premier Soccer League coaches showing trust in young players.

This is what Bafana coach Hugo Broos said on Thursday when announcing his squad to face Uganda and South Sudan in the last two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next week.

Since the 2024-2025 campaign started PSL coaches, including of three of South Africa's biggest clubs — Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs — have shown consistency in having a couple of young players in their starting line-ups and some of these youngsters have taken their chances with aplomb.

Players such as Samkelo Zwane, 22, Mduduzi Shabalala, 20, Wandile Duba, 20, Rushwin Dortley, 22, and Mfundo Vilakazi,18,  have shown promise when given opportunity to play by Nasreddine Nabi at Chiefs.

Jose Riveiro at Pirates is benefiting from trusting youngsters like Mohau Nkota, 19, and Relebohile Mofokeng, 20.

Manqoba Mngqithi at Sundowns is also reaping rewards by showing faith in young players like Malibongwe Khoza, 20, Asekho Tiwani, 19, Siyabonga Mabena, 17,  and Kutlwano Lethlaku, 17, who scored a brace on Wednesday when Sundowns beat Polokwane City 2-0 in a Betway Premiership match.

After the meeting he had with coaches of Chiefs, Sundowns and Pirates, Broos said he was satisfied with what they're doing with younger players.

“If you see how many young players are playing now in the PSL that's a big difference compared to when I came (2021) here. When I saw the line-ups of the teams and look at the age of the players, you didn't find players of 20, 21 and 22 years old.

“Now you find them everywhere, even in big clubs. Pirates with Mofokeng and Nkota, they're 20 years. That was not possible three years ago. There's a positive evolution in South African football but there are still some other things we need to change.

“The only thing that can change that, first of all is the coaches. When coaches want to change automatically, you'll have the league (PSL) with you because the league are the clubs.”

Since the day Broos arrived in South Africa to coach Bafana in 2021 he made it clear that young players will dominate in his team as he felt the Bafana he inherited from his predecessor Molefi Ntseki was full of players who were close to retirement.

Mofokeng, Dortley and Oswin Appollis, 23, of Polokwane City are some of the youngest players in Broos's squad to face Uganda and South Sudan.

Bafana need three points to qualify after amassing eight in the last four matches. A win in Kampala on November 15 will see Bafana qualify for back-to-back Afcons. If Bafana lose or draw against Uganda, they'll even have a better chance to qualify by beating South Sudan in Cape Town on November 19.

South Sudan lost all four of their previous qualifiers while Congo has some glimmer of hope after holding Bafana to a 1-1 draw in Brazzaville last month to take their tally to four.

Leading the group with ten points, Uganda will confirm their place in next year's Afcon in Morocco if they draw with Bafana in Kampala. Only two teams qualify from each group.