Broos slammed for shunning Lorch over Smith and Campbell – ‘Bafana is not a development project’

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has been criticised for selecting young players who were not going to play at AFCON 2025 in favour of quality and experienced ones that would make a difference.

Following South Africa’s elimination from AFCON 2025 at the Round of 16 on Sunday, Broos’ selection and tactics have come under scrutiny and one area where he has been slammed is the inclusion of youngsters Tylon Smith and Shandre Campbell in the 25-man squad.

The two were included despite the fact that they were not going to play with Broos feeling they needed the tournament experience as they are next in line when it comes to joining the senior national team.

Broos’ man-management questioned

However, former Kaizer Chiefs coach Farouk Khan thinks players like Thembinkosi Lorch, who has been overlooked over a number of reasons, including claims that he is outspoken and big headed, would have added quality and made a big difference had they occupied the two slots in the squad.

“National team coaches are basically managers; they are not coaches. They manage big, big players, they manage egos, they manage players like Lorch,” Khan said on SoccerBeat.

“That is what they get paid the big bucks for. So when you get to a national team level, you can’t allow the fact that Lorch is difficult to get around. You have got to integrate him in some way.”

Did Bafana coach make a selection mistake?

“And I do understand why the coach did not do it but that is if he had a luxury in depth to exclude Lorch then I would go with that but he doesn’t have that luxury. If he is bringing in Smith and Campbell and not using them, I have a problem with that,” added Khan.

“The fact that you are leaving out key players that can make a difference, because there was no way Campbell and Smith were going to play in this tournament. They were taken [there] for the experience.

“Bafana is not a development project, it is a project where you go to win matches and there, I think the coach, may have gotten it completely wrong.”