Broos tells Afcon absentees to pull up their socks

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained his rationale for snubbing gifted strikers Fagrie Lakay and Khanyisa Mayo.

Broos made it clear that Lakay, who had scored five goals for his Egyptian side Pyramids before the final Bafana squad for Afcon was confirmed, didn’t impress him when he previously selected him. Broos left him behind for Afcon, where Bafana eventually finished third to clinch bronze in Ivory Coast.

“I give chances to players, but they have to take those chances. I am very honest. I think that Fagrie didn’t take his chances with the national team, but that doesn’t mean we don’t follow him any more. We will review the situation again, but what Fagrie showed us in the games he played wasn’t enough,” Broos said during a round-table discussion with journalists at Safa House on Friday.

As for Mayo, who before the final Afcon squad was announced in December, had scored seven times for Cape Town City, the Bafana coach reasoned his career had been somewhat stagnant since his last Bafana involvement in October when they drew goalless against Eswatini in a friendly at FNB Stadium.

Broos was convinced Mayo wouldn’t have helped Bafana at Afcon. “I think Mayo promised a lot because he’s a good striker, but for me Mayo didn’t progress any more. He has to progress. We took him because we saw potential, but he has to progress and this is the problem with Mayo ... he just plays, but he doesn't take the next step at the moment.”

The Bafana coach will keep the door open for him though. “Maybe he will do it later. I couldn’t take Mayo [to Afcon] because I was really sure that on that level he couldn’t give us something extra, but again we are still following him. I hope Mayo can take that step that I think he needs to make because he has the potential.”

Statistics, however, show that Broos hasn’t really given the duo enough opportunity. Under Broos, Lakay has only played 151 minutes of football while Mayo has accumulated 221 minutes of action.