Pirates star opens up on AFCON snub: ‘I knew I will not make it’

Orlando Pirates‘ Patrick Maswanganyi is among the stars who will miss the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after coach Hugo Broos opted against including him in his Bafana Bafana squad.

The former SuperSport United midfielder has been struggling for regular playtime Bucs where competition has been stiff. Coach Abdeslam Ouaddou signed more than 10 new players to ensure he has enough quality and depth to challenge for silverware.

In all the competitions, this season, Tito – as he is famously known, has played just 14 goals and scored four goals in the process.

Injuries also contributed to his struggles to deliver since he had to work on his fitness as well. With Ouaddou needing results, it explains why he couldn’t feature as he may have wanted.

Maswanganyi opens up on Pirates struggles and AFCON snub

“I think you can’t control some of the things in life. This has been hard for me to watch other players playing, but you need to understand that those people are working hard,” he told Metro FM.

“For me, it’s never been the case of asking the coach why I’m not playing, but for me it’s to show the other guys, especially the new ones, that I can also be on the bench and support them because they are helping us at the moment.

“I already knew that I wasn’t going to make it to the AFCON squad because I wasn’t playing. I would get a few minutes to play, but I think when I was called up in the national team, I had problems with small injuries, and those kinds of things affect your mind and your position in the national team because there are a lot of players in the country that are working hard to be in that position,” Maswanganyi concluded.

The attacking midfielder now hopes to be among those who will make the World Cup squad.