Pitso Mosimane explains Thabang Matuludi’s Bafana Bafana call-up

Pitso Mosimane has defended his decision to select Mamelodi Sundowns defender Thabang Matuludi for Bafana Bafana before he had played a competitive match for his new club.

Matuludi joined Sundowns from Polokwane City and made his first appearance of the season when the South African side played Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.

However, he had already been named in Mosimane’s Bafana Bafana squad before making his debut for Sundowns. That decision prompted questions from football supporters, some of whom felt the defender had not done enough to justify his inclusion.

Mosimane said his decision was based on his knowledge of Matuludi’s ability and his monitoring of the player during pre-season.

“Well, sometimes you need to have a little bit of Sangoma next to you, right, to predict and tell you what you should do, and I know that somewhere somehow somebody’s gonna say ‘why are you picking a player who’s not playing right? We do our research. I’ve watched him,” Mosimane told the media.

“I know he’s been training the whole pre-season. He has played a few friendly games in the pre-season. I don’t get involved in the other stuff that clubs do. The players belong to clubs. We should respect the clubs. We should also respect the coaches at their respective teams.”

Mosimane added that being outside a club’s starting line-up did not necessarily prevent a player from being considered for international duty.

“But a national team player is a national team player, right? And also it’s important that the players must know that if they train and they’re doing things well, and we are watching, we know what’s happening,” he said.

The Bafana Bafana coach said his selections would ultimately be judged by the players’ performances, but insisted Matuludi had not been picked without detailed assessment.

“We don’t just arrogantly choose a Matuludi because we want to put a Matuludi, and unfortunately, as a coach, you know how it is. You guys tell after, right? If he was right or wrong, and if he’s wrong, we know that we’re gonna get the grill out of it, right? And if we are right, that’s why we are coaches. So yeah, we do our research. I’ve followed Matuludi all the way.”

Mosimane said his assessment of Matuludi began before he officially took charge of Bafana Bafana, pointing to the defender’s previous international involvement.

“Ever since I’ve been given the opportunity to be a Bafana coach, I’ve just researched everything and everywhere long before I signed the contract. I don’t want to sound smart here. Matuludi was in the World Cup, right? So, what am I saying to you, he was already there,” he said.

“The previous coach had him, so I think we should give credit to the previous coach for having him in the team.”

Mosimane also praised Matuludi’s display in the cup final on Saturday, describing it as a decent performance and saying the defender must continue fighting for his position.