FILE. Aaron Mokoena explains the unusual presence of six dropped players at the Bafana Bafana Fifa World Cup squad announcement, suggesting coach Hugo Broos likely offered them the choice to attend. Picture: ALEXANDER JOE / AFP
Image: ALEXANDER JOE / AFP
The most bizarre thing about the Fifa World Cup squad announcement for Bafana Bafana was that six players who did not make the final 26-man squad were present at the announcement in Pretoria.
It made little sense to have these players in attendance for what was essentially a send-off ceremony for the squad.
The six players were part of the provisional squad announced by Bafana coach Hugo Broos.
Though they will be on standby for the Fifa World Cup, these six players were essentially dropped and it would have been natural to assume they would be able to give the squad announcement a skip.
Former Bafana skipper Aaron Mokoena, however, believed Broos would have left it up to the players to attend the final squad announcement.
“I’m sure Hugo Broos had a one-on-one with them before going to the Union Buildings, and I'm sure that they had options,” Mokoena told SportsBoom.co.za.
“They had a choice of, do you want to go to the Union Buildings and meet the president? I’m sure that they have had that conversation. If not, then that would be absolutely wrong.”
Mokoena, now aged 45, captained Bafana the last time they appeared at a Fifa World Cup as hosts back in 2010. In that edition, an ageing Benni McCarthy was left out of the squad despite being part of a provisional selection in the lead-up to the quadrennial showpiece.
“Let me take you back to the 2010 World Cup, when Benni McCarthy was dropped by Carlos. He called Benni in the room, and he had a one-on-one with Benni before he announced it to the media, and he gave Benni the reasons why he would be doing this,” Mokoena said.
“So Benni is not surprised when he sees this in the media. I'm saying this because I was part of that meeting. We were three in the room, and that's when Carlos broke the news to Benni.
“What I'm saying is that Hugo Broos could have had this conversation with the players before they went to the media.”