Bafana Bafana Hugo Broos has explained why Mamelodi Sundowns’ defender Terrence Mashego was the better option for the AFCON squad.
Having qualified top of their group in the AFCON qualifiers, Broos’ men are set to head to West Africa to compete in the continental showpiece that will be hosted by Ivory Coast.
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Ahead of the competition, Broos had named a 50-man preliminary squad, that has now been trimmed to a final 23-man squad.
Among those who made the cut is Mashego, who returns to the national team set-up hoping to make his first appearance in national team colours since March 2022 in an international friendly against Guinea.
The 25-year-old has since twice withdrawn from Bafana camp due to injuries while Innocent Maela has only recently reached full fitness after recovering from injury as well.
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The alternative for Broos has been Lamontville Golden Arrows’ Bradley Cross, however, Broos felt that Mashego’s experience at international level gives him the advantage.
"First of all that was a choice also, whether it was Cross or Mashego, because we don’t really have that many good left backs.
"I choose Mashego because he already has the experience to play for Bafana Bafana before and he is playing again for Sundowns. So I think the choice was right to take Mashego and not Cross.
"Cross will be someone for the future, certainly, but he didn’t play with us until now and then immediately to play in such tournament without any game without Bafana."
"Imagine if Modiba gets injured and you have to bring in Cross, without experience, I think it was better then to take Mashego.
The Mamelodi-born wingback has made 16 appearances for The Brazilians across all competitions this season and started three of Sundowns' last four league matches last season.
Bafana kick-off their AFCON campaign with a Group E clash against Mali on 16 January before meeting Namibia on 21 January and wrapping up the group stage action against Tunisia on 24 January.
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