Broos has forgotten that Jali is still around

Kanti uJali wenzeni? (loosely translated – What did Jali do wrong?). This is the question that should be posed to Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos, who, for reasons known only by him, has continued to exclude Jali from the national squad.

Whenever the Belgian coach has to announce his Bafana squad, one cannot help but cringe when he goes through his list, not due to who he has included, but more about the players he did not include.

You probably have a couple of players you’d want to see in the national team.

My bone of contention – like many I suspect – is the constant exclusion of Andile Jali. Right now I’m of the view that Jali is the best box-to-box midfielder playing in the DStv Premiership but he fails to make the cut for Hugo Broos’ team.

How? Jali has been nominated in all categories where he is eligible in the Premier Soccer League awards.

He got the nod for the Footballer-of-the-Season, Nedbank Cup and MTN8 top honours, Midfielder-of-the-Season and the Players’ Player award.

From these five nominations, surely, surely, the former KV Oostende anchorman should walk away with at least two gongs.

Jali is, without a shadow of doubt, the best midfielder in the country right now but it appears as though Broos watches Jali with Stevie Wonder’s glasses.

It’s already egg on Broos’ face that one of the top stars that he ignores is highly rated and should he go on to win big in the awards ceremony next Sunday, it would be embarrassing for the nation.

This is similar to excluding the top goalscorer from the national team. I mean, imagine if Peter Shalulile was excluded from the Namibian national team? Crazy.

Broos announced his squad to take on Morocco and Zimbabwe in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next month. His 37-man provisional squad features Jali’s teammate, Lebohang Maboe, who just made his return from injury.

Jali has been, meanwhile, putting up consistent performances in the league, MTN8, Caf Champions League and the Nedbank Cup – all competitions where Maboe featured very little or not at all, as he was in the casualty ward.

I have nothing against Maboe, he is a decent player and his versatility makes him very selectable, but come on, Maboe over Jali?

For most successful nations, their national teams are made up of players who come from the best teams in that country’s league. Remember who dominated the 2010 Spain national team in the Fifa World Cup? Vincente Del Bosque’s team comprised a majority of Real Madrid and Barcelona players.

The 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil? Germany won that competition with a vast majority of players coming from Bayern Munich.

But I guess we just remain prisoners of hope.