Former Bafana Bafana defender Tsepo Masilela has defended some Kaizer Chiefs fans who chose to boycott the national team.
This decision came after coach Hugo Broos excluded Amakhosi players from his Bafana squads, which led to growing frustration among Chiefs fans.
During the World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Rwanda, a few Kaizer Chiefs fans expressed their desire for Bafana to lose, also because both opposing teams featured current and former Chiefs players.
Speaking on SoccerBeat, Masilela stated that the Kaizer Chiefs fans were justified in their decision to boycott Bafana.
“It’s understandable in a sense that maybe you, the comments the coach made in previous years, also and [those comments] didn’t sit well with the Kaizer Chiefs fans,” the former Amakhosi left-back said.
“Sometimes is about how you say things as a coach. Also, you must remember your responsibility as a coach, you are the leader, your voice and how you say things… there are certain cases where I also felt he could have maybe said things in a better way.”
Masilela highlights Kaizer Chiefs fans frustrations
The former Bafana Bafana left-back has encouraged Amakhosi fans to rally the national team ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.
“I feel it has come to a point where the fans feel like Broos doesn’t like Kaizer Chiefs. Are they right? part of me says no, it’s our national team at the end of the day and we want to see Bafana do well. If Bafana wins AFCON, we want to be celebrating and not divided by this issue of Kaizer Chiefs,” Masilela said.