Mosimane backs Matuludi call-up after tracking Sundowns defender

Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has defended his decision to select Thabang Matuludi, saying he has monitored the right-back’s progress despite the player having made only one competitive appearance this season.

Matuludi joined Polokwane City for pre-season after the FIFA World Cup and played in the one-day Mafori Cup in Seshego. However, he did not feature competitively for Rise and Shine as reports connected him with a move to one of South African football’s ‘Big Three’ clubs.

Mamelodi Sundowns eventually secured the highly rated defender, and Matuludi made his debut for the Tshwane club at the weekend in their African-Asian Pacific Cup match against Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli.

He made an immediate contribution, advancing down the right before delivering the cross from which Nuno Santos headed the winning goal.

Speaking to the media on the first day of Bafana Bafana’s training camp ahead of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Mosimane said he was satisfied that Matuludi was ready for an international opportunity.

“Sometimes you need to have asangomanext to you, to predict and tell you what to do. I know that somewhere somehow there is ‘why are you picking a player that is not playing?’ We make our research. I’ve watched him and I know he has been training the whole pre-season. He’s played a few friendly games in the pre-season.

“A national team player is a national team player, right? It’s also important that the players must know that if they train and doing things well, we know what’s happening. We don’t just arrogantly choose Matuludi because we want to put Matuludi. We do our research.

“I’ve follow Matuludi all the way, ever since I’ve been given the opportunity to be the Bafana coach. I’ve researched everything and everywhere, long before I signed the contract. I’ve been checking. I’ve been checking Luther (Singh) all the time. A lot of guys are doing well and they need to be given an opportunity.”

Mosimane also stressed the need to increase the number of players competing for places in the national team, arguing that Bafana Bafana require greater depth across every position.

“By the way, I don’t want to be sounding smart, Matuludi was at the World Cup, right? The previous coach had him. I think we should give credit to the previous coach for having him,” he said.

The coach added that Matuludi had produced a “decent performance” in the cup final on Saturday and now needed to compete for his position.

“There is Sebelebele who is forever in the opponents last quarter with his overlaps and Matuludi is there. It’s important in South Africa that we stack them,” Mosimane said.

“We need to learn from the Bokke (Springboks). They can play anybody and what is says about the talent that is stacked. We need to have that culture and that’s what I believe in. I want to make a revolution in South African football.”