‘Pirates beating Sundowns won’t affect my selection’ – Broos

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says Orlando Pirates beating Mamelodi Sundowns won’t have any influence in him selecting his starting eleven for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

South Africa take on Lesotho and Benin in the coming days. Bafana host Lesotho at the Peter Mokaba Stadium before flying to Ivory Coast to do battle with Benin on Tuesday.

Most of Broos’ squad has been selected from Pirates and Sundowns. The two teams played each other on Sunday with the Buccaneers edging their rivals 2-1 at the FNB Stadium.

“Certainly I look at the last games before the camp but this is not decisive,” said Broos.

“I know yesterday [Sunday], confrontation between those two clubs, Sundowns and Pirates, it was not the right moment for such a game, but it’s not because Pirates won tomorrow or next Friday, all the players from Pirates will be in and those from Sundowns because maybe they get a mental thing, they will not be in the team. It is not like that.

10 of Broos’ players comes from Sundowns and Pirates

“I will make my team what I think it is the best team. And the only thing I’m happy for is that, okay, the game was intense, it was an important game, but there was nothing happening between players.

“Sometimes it’s so intense and there are troubles and that should have been not good. But you see now, when you see the players, they are with the national team so club allegiance doesn’t count.

“I see on the table players with Sundowns and Pirates are laughing with each other. So everything is focused now on the on the next 10 days,” Broos said as per iDiski Times.

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