South Africa coach Hugo Broos has explained why he left out five Mamelodi Sundowns players from his squad for the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Nigeria.
The Bafana Bafana will face neighbors, Lesotho on Friday, 5 September 2025, before taking on Nigeria in a crunch clash four days.
Ahead of the games, the former Cameroon tactician has unveiled his squad, excluding five players from Mamelodi Sundowns. The players excluded from the squad are Khuliso Mudau, Jayden Adams, Fawaaz Basadien, Grant Kekana, and Thapelo Morena.
Despite dropping five players, Broos has handed call up to six players, who plies their trade with Sundowns, including goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
The Belgian coach explained Mudau’s absence as a result of limited game time, and noted that Basadien and Adams were omitted due to a dip in form:
“Grant Kekana is injured, so he’s not ready to play with us. We talked about Jayden [Adams], and I think right now he’s not at the level we expect. If you look at Fawaaz [Basadien], it’s the same; his level isn’t what we need. As for Thapelo Morena, he just recovered from injury; his first match back was only against Kaizer Chiefs.
At the moment, I don’t think Morena is ready for these kinds of games. Mudau isn’t playing for Sundowns due to contract issues, so we picked Zuko Mdunyelwa, as he has the qualities we need.” Broos stated.
Currently, the Bafana Bafana leads the group with 4 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.
