South Africa coach Hugo Broos reprimands rising star Mbekezeli Mbokazi for late arrival

Head coach of South Africa, Hugo Broos has taken a swipe at rising star Mbekezeli Mbokazi and his club Orlando Pirates following late arrival to the Bafana Bafana’s camp.

The Bafana Bafana are gearing up for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be staged in Morocco between December 2025 and January 2026.

However, the Belgian tactician at a press conference in Pretoria’s High Performance Centre slammed both Mbokazi and Orlando Pirates over flimsy excuses in his late arrival.

“Mbokazi, he just arrived or will arrive in 15 minutes,” Broos, who was close to shedding tears, told the media.

“I didn’t want to talk about it, but you asked the question, and you have the right to know that I’m not pleased about it.

“He let us know that he missed his flight yesterday in Durban, it was the coach of Pirates who informed me. And he was very angry that he missed his flight because, and that’s his word, ‘it’s an unprofessional attitude’.

“And I think I spoke already to you about unprofessional attitude of South African players. Again, an example of it. Then Pirates sent me a message with nonsense – really nonsense, why he missed his flight and I will not tell you what they said – and that is the worst thing that a club protects the player of his unprofessional attitude.

“This is South Africa, and this is very bad – very, very bad. When you’re a 19-year-old guy and you receive a call-up from the national team for AFCON, and to play World Cup next year, and the coach gives you a few more days off, if you are somebody with a good attitude, you don’t even want those two days and you are here on Monday with the other players” he said.

The 35^th edition of the 2025 AFCON runs from December 21 to January 18, 2026, with 24 countries set to battle it out for the trophy.