Best since 2000 Olympics? Broos fired up by Bafana young guns like Dortley, Mofokeng

The last time Bafana Bafana had this many talented young players knocking on the door was probably in the 2000s, when the generation of Benni McCarthy, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Quinton Fortune and Jabu Mahlangu helped South Africa's under-23s beat Brazil at the 2000 Olympics. 

This is not to say this generation compares. South African football has fallen a long way — Steven Pienaar was the last high-profile South African footballer in European football, though Lyle Foster is now making some strides. Some of the 2000s generation were making names at strong clubs in Europe when they beat a Seleção containing Ronaldinho and Alex. 

But this is certainly one of the best generations, if not the best, since. 

As his team prepares for their big Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Congo, Hugo Broos is definitely starting to see the real potential emerge and energy and talent a young brigade of Foster, Oswin Appollis, Rushwin Dortley and Relebohile Mofokeng bring to his squad. 

Foster is still only 24, and thanks to Broos picking him two years ago when the striker was still far less high profile playing at the reserves of Guimarães in Portugal and KVC Westerlo in Belgium, is a Bafana veteran. He also has a season in the Premier League under his belt, where the toughness of an unsuccessful relegation fight and his battles with mental health issues might have provided the challenges that help a player grow. 

Bafana, this year's bronze medallists, can nail down their qualification for the 2025 Nations Cup with wins, or even four points, against Congo at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Friday (6pm) and in Brazzaville on October 15. 

Appollis, Dortley and Mofokeng played a role in a Bafana that had many players lacking game time from the late start to the Betway Premiership escaping with four points against Uganda (2-2 at home) and South Sudan (3-2 win away) last month. 

Polokwane City winger Appollis, 23, scored a brace against South Sudan. Dortley, 22, went straight into Broos's starting line-up at centreback in his first-time squad call-up and barely put a foot wrong. It shows the trust Broos has in Orlando Pirates' 19-year-old Mofokeng that he came on as a substitute at 2-2 in as big a game as the match away to the South Sudanese. 

There are many other young players coming through including Mamelodi Sundowns' Siyabonga Mabena, 17 and Asekho Tiwani, 18, and Shandre Campbell, 19, who moved from SuperSport United to the Club Brugge reserves in July. Some of them played a role as coach Raymond Mdaka's Amajita, missing stars, won the U-20 Cosafa Cup at the weekend, reaching the next U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. 

It comes as some compliment that Broos, a centreback in the squad of the famous Belgian team that reached the Mexico 1986 World Cup semifinals, rates Dortley so highly as to fast-track Kaizer Chiefs' off-season signing from relegated Cape Town Spurs into his starting line-up. 

“I'm very happy with him,” the 72-year-old said. “But we knew him last year when he was with Spurs.  

“This season, because we thought now it's the moment to stop with [Siyanda] Xulu, we said, 'Ja, maybe we'll take Dortley — why not give him a chance?' 

“I spoke with Chiefs' coach [Nasreddine Nabi] because he lived in the same building where I am for a month. I said, 'How is Dortley?' He said, 'Ah, very good defender.'

“So he gave me a bit of assurance that I wouldn't make a bad choice. And that's why we said, 'OK, we'll put him in the team and we'll see — if we don't we'll never know.'

“And ja, he's ready to be there. Strong defender good in the air, good in rebuilding, good tackle and left-footed. Since I've been here we didn't find a left-footed central defender. And that helps him when you have to rebuild [play]. Mothobi Mvala did that well, but he was always there on the left side [as a right-footer].” 

The emerging talent after almost two decades where there was a dearth of it reflects a culture change in clubs from when Broos arrived three-and-a-half years ago. PSL teams used to view older players as sacred and saw playing 23-year-olds as adventurous, but increasingly throw in teenagers. It also partly stems from — and this might have been a catalyst for what's happening at the clubs — the Bafana coach's adventurous selections. 

“When I came here two years ago I was very surprised to see all those old players in the [national] team — they were all 28, 29 and over 30,” Broos said. 

“And when I said that then everybody was angry, because there was a feeling in this country that you couldn't touch an old player. The respect was too big. And OK, I have respect for an old player too, but this is not the future. 

“And you were always playing the same players who were from Sundowns, from Chiefs — when I arrived I saw that too. They [Bafana coaches] were afraid to not select a player from Chiefs or Sundowns, and I had problems because I did it. 

“But this is not the way you progress. You have to look at who the better players are and that can be a player from Polokwane. 

I think Appollis I need more on the side now. But you see what he did with the tremendous pass [in a June 3-1 World Cup qualifying win] against Zimbabwe. I think he can do that [playmaker]. In a different way. Appollis is also quick. If he should play in Themba's position he should be the player more running. He's also the player who can give the pass. 

—  Hugo Broos

“Second, [pick] young players are hungry. They want to prove themselves and show their qualities and skills. And while it's not why I'm doing it, they are also easy to handle. You can change a young player in his way of playing; you can't change an old player. 

“That doesn't mean I don't like older players. Themba [Zwane] is still there.” 

Sundowns playmaker Zwane, 35, remains Bafana's creative talisman, a role he reprised at this year's Nations Cup in Ivory Coast and he has forged on in some big matches since, too. 

But he will not remain forever. Pirates' Patrick Maswanganyi has been mentioned as a possible replacement one day. While he plays wide at the moment (so did Zwane once), Broos believed Appollis's class and intelligence might see him as a candidate too. 

“I think Appollis I need more on the side now. But you see what he did with the tremendous pass [in a June 3-1 World Cup qualifying win] against Zimbabwe. I think he can do that [playmaker]. 

“In a different way. Appollis is also quick. If he should play in Themba's position he should be the player more running. He's also the player who can give the pass. 

“For the future I think, yes, maybe one day we have to try it. Let's hope we qualify now with two wins [against Congo] and then in the games against Uganda and Sudan we can try some things.” 

Bafana's last two games of the Nations Cup qualifiers are against Uganda away on November 11 and South Sudan at home on November 19.