Foreign keepers give Broos a headache

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed he's surprised by a vast legion of foreign goalkeepers in the PSL as he's faced with a difficulty to pick a shot-stopper who'll start in the absence of skipper Ronwen Williams.

On Thursday, Broos excluded Williams, who's close to returning to full training after undergoing a shoulder surgery last month, in his 23-man squad to face Uganda and South Sudan in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers. Bafana host Uganda at Orlando Stadium next Friday, before facing South Sudan away four days later.

Orlando Pirates' Sipho Chaine - who was man of the match in their 1-1 draw with Cape Town City on Wednesday - received his maiden Bafana call-up, while AmaZulu's Veli Mothwa and Ricardo Goss of SuperSport United, who've been deputising for Williams, filled the goalkeeping roster for the two upcoming Afcon qualifiers.

"I am a little bit surprised that there are a lot of foreign goalkeepers in the league. This is not good for African football,'' Broos said during his squad announcement presser at SABC Studios in Auckland Park yesterday.

"On the other hand we have good keepers. We have Ronwen, Veli ... we have Sipho now, we have Ricardo and also Bvuma, for me he's a good goalkeeper but I think he'll not get his chance again at Chiefs this season [presumably because they've signed Rwanda No.1 Fiacre Ntwari].''

The Belgian insisted he'd make a decision as to who will start between these three keepers next week, bemoaning Williams's unavailability as his skipper.

"I will make a decision in the next week and that will depend on several things ... we will see. We have enough goalkeepers and they are not too old either but if you have a guy like Ronwen out for those two games, that's a little problem not only because he's a good goalkeeper but because he's also a good captain,'' Broos stated.

Stellenbosch left-back Faawaz Basadien and Chaine's teammate at Pirates Thalente Mbatha, who's a midfielder, are also in the Bafana squad for the first time. 

Some of the leading foreign goalkeepers in the Premiership

Stanley Nwabali (Chippa, Nigeria)

Badra Sangaré (Sekhukhune, Ivory Coast)

Salim Magoola (Bay, Uganda)

Manuel Sapunga (Polokwane, Equatorial Guinea)

Fiacre Ntwari (Rwanda, Chiefs)

Denis Onyango (Sundowns, Uganda)

Ismail Watenga (Arrows, Uganda)

Hugo Nyame (Royal, Cameroon)

Lloyd Kazapua (Sekhukhune, Namibia)

Bafana squad

Goalkeepers: Goss (SuperSport), Mothwa (AmaZulu), Chaine ( Pirates)

Defenders: Mobbie (SuperSport), Morena, Mudau, Modiba, Kekana (all Sundowns), Dortley (Chiefs), Sibisi (Pirates), Basadien (Stellenbosch), Ngezana (FCSB, Romania)

Midfielders: Mokoena (Sundowns), Adams (Stellenbosch), Sithole (Gil Vicente, Portugal), Mbatha (Pirates)

Forwards: Zwane, Rayners (both Sundowns), Appollis (Polokwane), Maswanganyi, Mofokeng (both Pirates),  Mokwana (Esperance, Tunisia), Foster (Burnley, England)

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