Hugo Broos indicates he will have to make 'painful' decisions before announcing Bafana Bafana's 2025 Afcon squad

This comes as no surprise, as the Premier Soccer League has once again proven to be one of the toughest and most unpredictable competitions in Africa, especially in the first half of the season. While Mamelodi Sundowns have consistently shown their dominance in recent years, and Orlando Pirates continue to give them a proper chase, the most unexpected twist has been the resurgence of Kaizer Chiefs — a club that has struggled in the past but has now joined the title race. They are accompanied by the promising outfits of Sekhukhune United, AmaZulu, and newcomers Durban City, who have shown they could be teams to watch very closely.

A number of players have raised their hands for their respective clubs, and their performances simply cannot be ignored. This leaves the 73-year-old Hugo Broos with nothing but tough decisions to make.

Despite the stellar performance on Saturday against Zambia, Broos maintains that there is still room for improvement. Unfortunately, this means he will have to drop some players from the squad ahead of the upcoming Afcon tournament. On a positive note, however, this opens the door for others who have long hoped to be part of the setup, with GOAL highlighting several possible candidates who stand a chance.

Following the encounter in Gqeberha, the Belgian coach shared his insights on what the next few weeks will look like as the team prepares for Afcon. He made it clear that there will be slight changes to the squad — changes that, while necessary, will inevitably bring some pain.

“I know that what was so easy two years ago will now be very difficult to do because we have more than 23 players who can go to Afcon and deserve to go to Afcon. I will make decisions, and some of them will be painful for the players and also for me personally because it’s not a nice thing to drop a player,” Broos said as per the Sowetan.  

“Today I gave players who hadn’t played much in the past some minutes...to see how they react and how they are adapting to the team tactically. Again, I am certainly satisfied but not 100%...but I wanted to see what I saw today.

While Broos was not entirely satisfied, he did give props to players like the TS Galaxy defender Khulumani Ndamane, whom he monitored closely. The Belgian acknowledged the potential players like Ndamane could offer in the future, despite the overall performance on Saturday.

“I think the guys I introduced in the second half we can use them in the future...maybe already for Afcon, like Ndamane. Today he was a little bit hesitant, but you saw him in the previous game against Rwanda; he was very good. It’s not easy to come into the game in the second half,” concluded Broos.

With just a handful of league matches left before Afcon kicks off, players face a tough task ahead, proving to Broos that they have what it takes to represent the country.

While the likes of Masandawana and the Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates, currently dominate the Bafana squad, arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs will need to make the most of their remaining matches — particularly their CAF Confederation Cup fixtures — to prove that their players have what it takes to compete at the highest level.

There has been no shortage of critics regarding Broos’ selection choices, but it remains to be seen whether he will take any of them into consideration, despite previously stating that such opinions do not bother him.