- Mvala played the full season as a centre-back
- He had been converted from central midfield
- Bafana coach Broos comments on his inclusion
WHAT HAPPENED? Broos named his squad to take on Morocco in Bafana Bafana’s last qualifying match. It would be a dead rubber as both teams have already secured tickets to the continental competition.
In Broos’ squad is Mvala, naturally a central midfielder converted into a centre-back by the Sundowns coaches. But the Beligian sees him as a central defender while defending the player’s recent own goal against Wydad Casablanca in the Caf Champions League.
WHAT BROOS SAID: “Yeah, you don’t need to talk much of such thing [like the own goal], it’s an accident, it was a good free-kick, I know, I was a defender myself when a ball like is coming and you’re running to your own goal, and you have to put the ball away, yes, just a bad position, you’re running and you touch the ball and ‘boom’ it goes in,” Broos said on SABC Sport as per iDiski Times.
“Can you blame Mothobi for that? No! Do you have to talk about that? No! I just joked a little bit and said ‘ah you scored now’. And he said okay, but besides that, it’s something that happens on every field in every game, so why talk about it.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Mvala started being deployed as a centre-back by Sundowns during the 2020/21 season, prominently featuring at the heart of defence in December 2020 away in the 1-1 draw with Golden Arrows. That was followed by another central defensive role in the Champions League against Jwaneng Galaxy in January 2021.
Now that Mvala is no longer the preferred first-choice left-back, as well as the departure of Andile Jali, Sundowns are left with the likes of Teboho Mokoena and Bongani Zungu as the most prominent central midfielders expected to be key performers next season.
WHAT NEXT FOR BAFANA? The national team is expected to go into camp on Sunday to start preparing for Morocco.
