Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed why he decided to replace the injured Relebohile Mofokeng with Mduduzi Shabalala for their next two crucial 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers this week.
Bafana will face Zimbabwe in the penultimate qualifier at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday night (6pm kick-off) before clashing with Rwanda in the final qualifier at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night (6pm kick-off).
Hugo’s charges need to win both games convincingly after dropping to second in Group C. This came after Fifa docked them three points and handed them a 3-0 defeat due to contravening a disciplinary code by fielding an ineligible Teboho Mokoena during their home qualifier against Lesotho in March.
So in order to achieve their target of finishing top of Group C in order to automatically qualify for the global showpiece for the first time since 2002—having secured their ticket to the 2010 edition merely as hosts—Broos has named a relatively strong 23-man squad.
The bulk of the players assembled for camp on Monday and trained at Dobsonville Stadium in the afternoon, while overseas duo Sphephelo Sithole and Lyle Foster are expected to land in the country on Tuesday.
Mofokeng was the only player that withdrew from the squad due to an injury he sustained during Orlando Pirates’ 1-0 win over Siwelele in the Carling Knockout. Hence, Broos decided to replace him with his Kaizer Chiefs’ counterpart, Shabalala.
“I think if you see the games of Chiefs, Mduduzi is someone who has the action,” said Broos on handing Shabalala his second successive Bafana call-up in the qualifiers.
“He knows where to run – for me his best position is behind the strikers. So if we use him, it will be in that position.”
Bafana are set to camp in Johannesburg until Thursday morning before flying out to Durban where they’ll hold their last training session before facing The Warriors in a must-win match on Friday night
