Hugo Broos defends decision to start Veli Mothwa as Bafana draw

Mothwa has been the subject of criticism following a howler which led to the Cranes’ second goal, with the ball slipping through his hands in what should have been a fairly routine save.

MATCH REPORT: Bafana leave it late to earn thrilling 2-2 draw against Uganda

With captain and number-one goalkeeper Ronwen Williams injured, Broos had to choose between Mothwa, Ricardo Goss, and Sipho Chaine, and he insisted he has no regrets over his choice on the night.

"This is something you [realise] after the game. You don't know that if Veli doesn't make that error then maybe you win the game, and that can happen to any keeper," said Broos.

"So I don't regret that I put him in the goals, and now we have to see how he is – he is very disappointed, and we think we have a lot of work to bring him back mentally a little bit.

"We will see if that's possible, but I don't regret – not at all – that I put Veli in goals today."

After scoring an early goal through Lyle Foster in the 14th minute, Bafana produced numerous scoring chances to kill off the game in the first half, but were let down by a lack of sharpness in the final third. 

Broos suggested the delayed start of the Betway Premiership was behind this.

"I don't think I have to tell you I'm sitting here with mixed feelings – on one side, very happy because we at least could have a draw, but on the other side disappointed because we couldn't win the game," he added.

"In the first half, we had some chances and could have scored more than the 1-0 [scoreline], but from the beginning I think it was clear that Uganda was much sharper than we were in duels, which was something I was afraid of before the game.

"You saw that we came out of the dressing room [in the second half] that we were not sharp enough, and in two or three minutes were 2-1 down, but the reaction after that and the changes we made helped us come back to get the point we needed today."

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