Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has left the door open for Strasbourg and Moreirense forwards Lebo Mothiba and Kobamelo Kodisang for future selections.
Mothiba, 26, earned the last of his 14 senior international caps in 2019 under then-coach Molefi Ntseki in a 1-0 win over Sudan but suffered a serious knee injury which curtailed his rapid progress in Ligue 1.
After nearly two years out on the sidelines, he went out on loan to domestic rivals Troyes in order to regain his match fitness and featured in 13 of their 16 league games, where he scored twice before returning to Strasbourg for the 2022/23 campaign.
But Broos has not been fully convinced by his six cameo appearances from the bench this season that’s yielded goals against Toulouse and Marseille over the last couple of weeks.
“For Mothiba it’s simple, he’s been with the team for two weeks and he’s just playing half an hour and 15 minutes or something like that, is that a standard to take a player? I don’t know, I don’t think so,” he said when asked by iDiski Times.
“You need to do well with performances, one after the other, he was injured was a long time and he didn’t play for [Troyes] last year – so let’s see what happens.”
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Kodisang who’s yet to make his senior international debut has scored six goals and registered three assists for Moreirense in the second tier, a decent return since making a season-long loan from SC Braga at the start of this season.
Broos acknowledges he’s close to being selected but hinted that the wingers in the squad have done more to be called up or be retained, but should Kodisang continue his recent run of form, he will be a sure selection for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in March next year.
“With Kodisang it’s the same, he was playing in the Olympics, and then he was with Braga in the third division and he didn’t play [for the first team] and now suddenly he’s good,” he continued.
“Okay… let him go on [and continue] being good and then we’ll have a very good player in March, so I don’t want to take Kodisang and replace another one, because the players who were there in September satisfied me, expect [one or two], but they satisfied me.
“You can see by the selection I made – but again, we have an eye on Kodisang and when he goes on like this, he certainly will be there in March.”
Image credit: RC Strasbourg
