Broos must stick to his (young) guns

● Former Bafana Bafana skipper Neil Tovey has encouraged national coach Hugo Broos to stick to his guns and build his team around young players despite growing calls to bring back in-form and experienced players like Andile Jali and Themba Zwane of Mamelodi Sundowns.

Broos, who turned 70 last month, is due to name a team to face Morocco away on June 9 and Zimbabwe on home soil on June 13 in matches that will kickstart Bafana’s campaign to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast. Bafana failed to make it to the 2021 Afcon under Broos’s predecessor, Molefi Ntseki.

Since his appointment in May last year, Broos has consistently picked younger players such as Ethan Brooks, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Evidence Makgopa and Teboho Mokoena — all under 25 — as he looks to build a team for the future.

The Belgian’s approach was lauded when his young team came close to qualifying for this year’s Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Bafana were unlucky to finish second behind Ghana in World Cup qualifying Group G.

“I know Jali very well because he played in Belgium. And this is a choice I made from the beginning,” Broos said.

“And I’m still OK with that choice. Jali [at 32] is an older player too. I think with the younger players I have now, I am looking for other types of players in the midfield,” Broos said after being challenged for not selecting Jali for the two friendly matches Bafana played against France and Guinea in March.

Bafana legends Doctor Khumalo and Lucas Radebe are among critics calling on Broos to bolster his team with midfield players such as Jali and Zwane, but Tovey, who was appointed SA Football Association (Safa) technical director in 2015, said it is Broos’s responsibility to select the team.

“I think he must stick to what he believes works for him. Why chop and change,” said Tovey.

“I think we have to persevere with what we’ve been doing. His plan seemed to be working last year and to abandon all those young players now won’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Broos would have been pleased to see Bafana striker Percy Tau scoring a brace for Al Ahly in their 4-0 victory against Algeria’s ES Setif in the first leg of the Caf Champions League semifinal last weekend.

Tau had been struggling with form since moving to the Egyptian giants in August last year but his goals last week showed he’s making some progress under Pitso Mosimane, the coach he had at Mamelodi Sundowns before moving to Brighton in England.

A war is already brewing between Morocco and Safa, with the latter complaining to Caf this week after learning that the Moroccans are scheduled to play Liberia, the other team in Group K, twice in Morocco.

The west African country does not have a Caf-approved stadium and are due to face Morocco at “home” in Casablanca on June 13.

“We understand the challenges of stadia on the continent, but we plead that it will not disadvantage other countries or give unfair advantage to others,” Safa wrote in their letter to Caf.

Caf is yet to respond to Safa’s complaint.