Why Broos refused to play Algeria

Why Broos refused to play Algeria

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has explained the reasons behind turning down an invitation to play North African giants, Algeria in this upcoming international week.

Broos was speaking shortly after announcing his final 23-man squad to play two international friendly matches after regional neighbors Mozambique and Angola in Mbombela next week.

SABC Sport understands that the trip to Algeria was going to be an all-expenses paid trip from the hosting federation and be a mix of a regular squad and a team that is preparing for the CHAN tournament starting in Algeria.

However, Broos says Algeria ranked 37th in the world and fifth on the continent, was not an ideal opponent for Bafana at this stage.

œI refused because I didn™t want to travel 24hours and that™s the problem here in Africa, when you want to travel you need one day and you have to wait from airports to have connection to another plane. We did it enough - we went to France, we went to Morocco, so I didn™t want to have again an opponent where we have to travel 24hours, Broos explained.

œSecondly I think now it™s not the moment to play against such a team like Algeria, they are better than we for this moment so maybe some guys are disappointed now because they were ready to criticize again if we lose against Algeria. I™m little bit smarter now than few months ago.

By Velile Mnyandu