Bafana head coach Hugo Broos sheds some light on the absence of attacker Percy Tau and explains why he is 'not really amused' by the situation as Bafana Bafana prepare for friendlies against Eswatini and Ivory Coast.
It emerged on Monday that the Belgian coach had called up Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Mduduzi Mdantsane as a replacement for Tau, who had requested to withdraw after being named in the final 23-man squad for the upcoming friendlies.
READ | Percy Tau tops Egyptian scoring charts
Although Broos was empathic to Tau's request, he admits feeling blindsided by the Red Devils as Tau scored a brace and delivered a Man of the Match performance on Sunday during Al Ahly's 3-1 win over Ismaily.
"There's the case of Percy Tau, so I had contact with Percy last week. For family reasons, he liked not to be here with us and I understood it," Broos said.
"On the other side, I'm really not amused that he played yesterday with Al Ahly. I think clubs have to understand that in very important periods, they want to have their players. But it's the same case for me, for us as a national team.
"We are in a very important period for the moment. We are in preparation for [the 2026 FIFA World Cup] qualifiers next month and we are in preparation for Afcon in January. I hope and I hoped a little collaboration from that side would be welcome."
South Africa takes on Eswatini on Friday at FNB Stadium on Friday. Kick-off is at 18:00.
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