There are six uncapped players in the squad Hugo Broos selected as Bafana Bafana prepares to take on Sierra Leone and Botswana in international friendlies this month.
Starting at the back, it’s a deserved call-up for TS Galaxy’s 24-year-old goalkeeper Melusi Buthelezi, after his superb start to the 2022/2023 campaign.
For just the third time in the last two decades, a goalkeeper kept clean sheets in his first five games of the season, and the TS Galaxy goalkeeper has made a habit of keeping the ball out of the net. At the time of writing, Buthelezi has kept the score to zero 19 times in just 43 career games, for both Galaxy and his former club Jomo Cosmos.
Buthelezi can only flourish getting a chance to be part of the national set-up, and rubbing shoulders with experienced keepers like captain Ronwen Williams and Veli Mothwa, and hopefully, this is the first of many call-ups for the young man.
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Stellenbosch midfielder Sibongiseni Mthethwa also got a deserved call-up after an impressive nine months with Steve Barker’s team. Mthethwa, who only joined Stellies in January from Black Leopards, has become one of Barker’s key players in a very short time. He has reportedly attracted interest from clubs across the country for his standout performances.
There’s also a call-up for Luke Le Roux, who happens to be a former Stellenbosch player, who is the son of Stellies’ team manager Garth Le Roux. But Le Roux left Stellies very early on in his career, first going to SuperSport United, before heading to Varberg in Sweden. The former Amajimbos captain has been in excellent form for the Swedish club this year.
Pule Mmodi makes a return to the squad, although the Golden Arrows player has yet to make his debut for Bafana. The 29-year-old former Uthongathi man may be a late-bloomer, but he has been a consistent star for the Durban club over the past three seasons. This season he already has three goals in just seven games and could be heading to his best contribution yet.
Khanyisa Mayo from Cape Town City has also been called up before, and was part of Broos’ last squad, but is yet to win a cap. The City attacker has also been in excellent form for his club so far this season, and will now look to transport that form to the national team.
It is, however, the first call-up for the talented Mihlali Mayambela, someone who has slipped under the radar for far too many years. The younger brother of former PSL star Mark Mayambela, first made waves in local football when he was a teenager, but was ignored by national junior team selectors.
The 26-year-old made his professional debut as a teenager eight years ago for Cape Town All Stars in the National First Division, but within a year he was snapped up by Djurgardens in Sweden, and his career in Europe began. Over the next seven years, he’d play in Sweden, Portugal, Israel and now Cyprus, playing and scoring regularly. But although for many of those years he was eligible for U20 and U23 selection, Mayambela wasn’t given a chance in national teams until now.
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