'SA can thrive without Downs stars'

Mamelodi Sundowns players have been Bafana Bafana's cornerstone since incumbent coach Hugo Broos arrived.

However, the Belgian has implied he wasn't a fan of selecting too many players from one team, hoping Bafana can prevail without the Brazilians stars in the friendlies against Tanzania and Mozambique, as he bemoans that some of the these stars were ageing.

Bafana host Tanzania in a friendly at Peter Mokaba Stadium tomorrow (7.30pm), before welcoming Mozambique to the same venue on Tuesday.

Sundowns' involvement in the second leg of the CAF Champions League final, where they lost 3-1 to Egyptian side Pyramids in Cairo on Sunday – coupled with their participation in the upcoming Club World Cup – forced Broos to excuse their players for these two friendlies.

“I know that the presence of Sundowns players in the national team has always been important. Why? because those are players who're very experienced at the higher level, so they helped us a lot in the past but as you know that I am not a coach who always looks only at the top teams [for player selection]...I always look at other teams as well,'' Broos said.

“Some of the Sundowns players are now 30 and older, so we also have to think about the future. We will do it without Sundowns players. Let's hope that we can find some other players too [from other teams] because having too many players from one club is not good; therefore it's very interesting for me to see other players from other teams in these friendly games.”

Broos likes the fact that both Tanzania and Mozambique were at last year's Afcon in Ivory Coast, where Bafana won bronze, and feels they'll give them the test they want.  “ Mozambique are even in a good position to qualify for the World Cup, so that means they'll be good opponents. It's a good opportunity for everyone to prove themselves, to show their qualities because they have qualities otherwise they wouldn't be here,'' he said.

Tanzania is ranked 107th in the Fifa rankings, 51 places behind SA. Mozambique are ranked 96th in the world and 22nd by CAF. Bafana are ranked 10th on the continent, while Tanzania are ranked 24th.

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