Hugo Broos' Orlando Pirates-dominated AFCON squad is 'not balanced' and 'a disgrace to South Africa'

Hugo Broos should have accommodated more strikers in his Africa Cup of Nations squad, a former Mamelodi Sundowns striker has argued.

As currently constituted, the team is not balanced, according to Sandile Ndlovu, and should an injury occur, that will put the team in a very risky position, the retired striker said.

Oswin Appollis, Tshepang Moremi, Sipho Mbule, Evidence Makgopa, Relebohile Mofokeng, Lyle Foster, Mohau Nkota, Elias Mokwana, and Shandre Campbell are the forwards Broos selected for AFCON.

"AFCON is a big tournament; you can't go there with only two strikers. It's easy to sustain injuries and bookings in such tournaments," Ndlovu told KickOff.

"We are talking about AFCON here, where you are allowed to take along 25 players. You can easily take five strikers. So, it means that in Broos' squad, there are players from other positions who have taken the spaces of the strikers.

"Going to such a tournament with only two strikers is a disgrace to South Africa. Yes, Broos has done wonders and turned Bafana Bafana's fortunes around, and we all love him, but now he is missing the point," he added.

Ndlovu stated that the Belgian might have opted for fewer strikers in order to accommodate his favourite players who do not play in that department.

"I know there are midfielders who can be converted to strikers. And looking at his choice of strikers, even I think Iqraam Rayners, who is not part of the team, has scored more goals than Evidence Makgopa, who is on three goals," AK47, as Ndlovu is famously known, continued.

"I understand why he chose Lyle Foster and Makgopa because they can be a nuisance to defenders, as they both have strength. But we still have two more strikers who will run into pocket spaces as often as Rayners does.

"Taking only two strikers to an AFCON tournament means Hugo Broos' squad is not balanced. What he has done is a big risk, and I believe it was done to accommodate his favourite players who are not strikers."

One question that Broos has had to deal with over time is the omission of Wydad Casablanca forward Thembinkosi Lorch. Although he is in good form, the former Pirates forward has been snubbed, but the coach has always defended his position.

“I also read the propositions of the media to take players with the group, and I was laughing. I was really laughing, because this shows again that some people in the media are not judging a player on his qualities but just because he’s a friend of theirs, or maybe they have an advantage to write that in the paper," Broos told the media in an earlier interview.

“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.

“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 said.

“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?" Broos 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."

In anticipation of a likely event, Broos placed Sundowns striker Iqraam Rayners on the standby list that also has Mduduzi Shabalala and Thabo Moloisane.