Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos addresses Thembinkosi Lorch 'supporters' AGAIN - 'Orlando Pirates & Mamelodi Sundowns kicked him out'

If there is one issue that Hugo Broos has been dealing with almost always without much success in dodging it, it is the question regarding Thembinkosi Lorch.

The Bafana The Bafana tactician has snubbed the experienced forward regularly, and his decision has always directed criticism towards him, but he never flinches in defending himself.

When he mentioned his provisional AFCON squad, Lorch was conspicuously absent, and Broos took time to explain why he did not make the cut.

Now in Morocco for the finals, he was asked again why he has always failed to consider the former Mamelodi Sundowns star.  

“Yes, there are supporters [of Lorch]. First instance, this is a choice. I think I have 45 players or something like that, from whom I can choose. So you have to make choices. That is one,” the Bafana Bafana head coach said after he was asked by Lorch following SA's win over Angola on Monday. 

“Secondly, everybody is talking about Lorch. I haven't heard from or seen him in the last three years. He was playing in Pirates, and they kicked him out. He was playing in Sundowns, but they kicked him out. He was playing in Wydad Casablanca, I think. He didn't play anymore. And now suddenly he plays well.

“I made my choice, and that's it. I can maybe give you some other names, maybe this one or that one or another one. You know, when I make my choices, I make my choices on my own. And that's it," the former Cameroon head coach continued.

Broos' criticism of the former Orlando Pirates star is always unfiltered; the Belgian has been expressing his dissatisfaction with the forward in a way many consider arrogant and demeaning at times.

“Okay, we will talk about someone, so in the last three months, there is only one name that always came back, Lorch, Lorch, Lorch. Did everyone see the performance of Lorch over the last two years? Nobody," Broos said in his earlier address on Lorch.

“He played in [Orlando] Pirates. He was out of the team; they kicked him out. He was happy that Rhulani [Mokwena] was in [Mamelodi] Sundowns. He came to Sundowns, he played a few games, and he finished. They kicked him out, also.  

“He went to Morocco, first year… Now, suddenly, in the last three months, he played well. Don’t you think that we don’t know that?" he added.

“But I don’t look at the player like, ‘Oh yeah, I like Lorch.’ No, and look at his quality offensively and defensively. Can he help the team? When I evaluate that player, I have to say, ‘No, he can’t help us. Finished, done.’ And then some people can be angry, and some people can call me stubborn, whatever. They do what they want. 

"I just decided, and that’s all. And the boys I decide on, the boys I call up, those are the boys I believe in, and they know it. I will never take somebody who I think will not help us. So you can write what you want and say what you want; that’s your business, and that’s your job also. So I understand that a little bit," he continued.

“It’s nice, okay, but it doesn’t affect me at all, and I think the media has to know it after four years. So just go and just propose and think that I made the bad choices and so on. It’s your job. Okay," he concluded.

The only way the 73-year-old can cushion himself from further questions and criticism related to Lorch is to ensure Bafana do well in Morocco.

If the team fails, and mainly because of a lack of goals, the question will haunt Broos further. 

The tactician is not off the radar yet; he is set to name his World Cup squad next year, and, going by precedent, he will face more questions should he snub Lorch again.