Senior national team coach Hugo Broos has revealed the reason behind dropping Siyanda Xulu in favour of Siyabonga Ngezana in the latest Bafana Bafana squad.
South Africa is set to take on Andorra and Algeria in international friendlies towards the end of March as part of preparations for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
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The Belgian mentor made as many as 10 changes in the latest squad from the 23 that secured a Bronze medal at the AFCON and among those changes is in the defensive line where Ngezana comes in for Xulu.
Speaking on SABC Sport shortly after announcing his squad, Broos revealed that Ngezana has long been queued up for a national team call-up.
"Ngezana was for us a point of discussion for AFCON," Broos said.
"We didn’t know very well if we should take him with us or not because he was playing very good in Romania but he was never with us (never previously with the camp) and I didn’t want to change for AFCON.
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"But again, he is playing very well in Romania, and it’s nearly the same story with Veli Mothwa – Siyanda [Xulu] is at a certain age and we have to look to the future.
"I think if Ngezana can have the same level he has in his club in Romania, then okay we are settled again for the next few years."
Bafana do battle with Andorra on 21 March before going head-to-head with Algeria on 26 March.
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