Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained why he called up Ashley Du Preez to replace the injured Lyle Foster.
The latter had arrived in camp but felt some discomfort and scans showed he would not be ready for the two friendlies against Sierra Leone and Botswana.
Broos insisted it was better to send Foster back to his club and give Du Preez a chance to prove himself in the national team.
“Yesterday, Lyle told us that he felt something in the game on Saturday with his club,” he told Bafana’s media department.
“The doctor said we’ll see how things are going but today it was worse, so we decided immediately to go and have a scan and there was inflammation, there were some other things which were not right.
“It was no use to keep him here because he wouldn’t be ready for Friday or Monday, so he had to leave the camp and with Du Preez with a replacement for him.
“It’s a good opportunity for him also to show us what his qualities are and if we can keep him for the next games.”
Broos also lamented the fact that five of his strikers are out at the same time, but insisted it gives other players a chance to raise their hands for future selections.
“It’s true [that it’s a blessing in disguise]. First of all we know those players now, so it gives us the opportunity now to see other players without directly changing the group, we are forced to change the group a little bit,” he added.
“It’s a good opportunity for us but also for the players to show what they can do and their qualities. It will maybe give us the opportunities also to choose the strongest, therefor it’s good.
“But on the other side you have Percy Tau, Hlongwane, Lyle Foster, Makgopa, you have Fagrie Lakay, all strikers [out] and this is a little bit of a pity. You can have five injuries, maybe one striker, two midfielders and two defenders, but now we have five strikers that are injured. I prefer if it was a little bit different, but I’ll now look at the other players.”
