‘He lost many balls’ – Broos slams Bafana midfielder after surviving Zimbabwe scare

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has expressed his disappointment at the display of midfielder Sphephelo Sithole during their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations win over Zimbabwe.

South Africa weathered a storm from Zimbabwe to win 3-2 in a thrilling game that could have gone either way after the Warriors staged a comeback that nearly saw them win the game.

Bafana Bafana were uncharacteristically open in midfield and defence with the Zimbabwe players having an easy time and one of the reasons was that Sithole was losing the ball quite often during the game.

Broos unhappy with Sithole

With Broos’ men ultimately winning to secure their spot in the Round of 16, the tactician explained how Sithole’s unimpressive performance forced him to bring on Bathusi Aubaas to steady things in midfield.  

“Yaya, defensively, he was okay but once he had the ball, he lost many balls also had bad passes,” Broos told SABC Sport.

“Almost every time when he had the ball, we would lose it to the opponents, then we had to do something.

Bafana coach lauds Aubaas

“With Bathusi in the second half, it was better. We had the control of the ball, the passing was better and we played better also. Again, we brought ourselves in trouble and this is something that has to stop.”

CD Tondela midfielder Sithole has been a mainstay in the Bafana midfield when fit as he is the preferred partner to Teboho Mokoena but he did not cover himself in glory on Monday.

It is not certain if that less than impressive show will cost him his place in the team in the knockout round when Bafana Bafana will need to massively improve to have a chance of making it to the quarter-final.