Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has defended Themba Zwane's domestic form despite him seemingly losing his place in Mamelodi Sundowns' starting lineup following the club's managerial reshuffle last month.
Reigning DStv Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns made headlines last month when the club announced that Manqoba Mngqithi had been demoted to the role of first-team coach, with his former co-coach Rulani Mokwena handed sole custody of the head coach role.
The managerial reshuffle from Masandawana followed from the club's 3-0 MTN8 semi-final defeat to eventual champions Orlando Pirates and it appears as though Mngqithi was not the only one impacted by the change in direction from the club.
Following Mokwena's ascension to the throne, star player Themba Zwane was not named in the starting XI in either of Sundowns' last two matches, having started nine of the previous 10, with wonderkid Cassius Mailula and Haashim Domingo preferred options.
This has not stopped national team coach Hugo Broos from calling the 33-year-old up for the upcoming friendlies against Mozambique and Angola and the Belgian tactician was quick to defend the player he once deemed surplus to his own requirements.
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"You don't have to always look at what is happening in the moment," Broos said on SABC Sport during his squad announcement this week.
"You talk about Zwane, I think he is not from the youngest and I think that his coach now is putting him a little bit on the side to refresh him a bit because he has played all the games.
"So, it's not a matter of him playing badly, it's more a matter of giving the changes to young ones and seeing what they are worth, and I think this is the intentions of the coaches at Sundowns."
Zwane had previously been overlooked for selection by Broos on multiple occasions before earning a recall to the Bafana Bafana squad in September, when he marked his return with a brace in a 4-0 win over Sierra Leone.
To date, the 2019/20 PSL Footballer of the Season has won 29 caps for South Africa since making his international debut in 2014, scoring six times along the way.
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