Premier Soccer League heavyweights Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates have a good number of players in the Bafana Bafana team that will play Lesotho and Benin respectively in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
The Sea Robbers hosted Masandawana on Sunday in the league outing that was staged at the FNB Stadium. Relebohile Mofokeng scored the goals for the Buccaneers before Khuliso Mudau pulled one back to set up a tense finale.
Ahead of the game against Lesotho on Friday at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, coach Hugo Broos has opened up on how the game between the two teams has impacted his squad selection.
‘It was not the right moment for that game but…'
“Certainly I look at the last games before the camp but this is not decisive. I know [the Sunday], confrontation between those two clubs, Sundowns and Pirates, was not the right moment for such a game, but it’s not because Pirates won tomorrow or next Friday, all the players from Pirates will be in and those from Sundowns because maybe they get a mental thing, they will not be in the team. It is not like that,” Broos stated.
“I will make my team what I think it is the best team. And the only thing I’m happy about is that, okay, the game was intense, it was an important game, but there was nothing happening between players. Sometimes it’s so intense and there are troubles that should have been not good. But you see now when you see the players, they are with the national team so club allegiance doesn’t count.
“I see on the table players with Sundowns and Pirates are laughing with each other. So everything is focused now on the next 10 days.”
Bafana have seven points from Group C alongside Rwanda and Benin.
