South Africa coach Hugo Bruce will rely heavily on locals at the 2026 World Cup – bucking the trend of choosing Europe-based players amid African qualifiers.
74 year old ex belgium The defender, who retired from football following global exposure, has 25 South African Premiership players in his 32-man provisional squad that will be trimmed this week.
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There are no locals in the squads of Cape VerdeDemocratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast And senegalAnd tunisia Only six were selected.
South Africa, Algeria, egypt, ghana And shock to the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists morocco They are still yet to name their final team.
Apart from South Africa, only Egypt, with 18 locals in the preliminary group, will travel to North America for the global tournament, which will feature the majority of domestic players.
South Africa are in Group A with co-hosts MexicoCzech Republic and south korea. The mini-league winners and runners-up qualify for the Round of 32 and the third-placed team can join them.
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Bruce, a full-back who helped Belgium finish fourth at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, has relied largely on local talent since taking charge in 2021 as few South Africans play abroad.
Good pay and home-based working conditions are a factor. The Premiership is the richest national league in Africa.
is popularly known as bafana bafana (The Boys), South Africa exceeded expectations and finished third at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations.
However, South Africa flopped in the latest AFCON this year, losing in the last-16 to the young Cameroon team.
In March, fellow World Cup qualifiers panama Visited the republic for World Cup practice matches. The Central Americans drew in Durban and won in Cape Town.
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Following the team announcement at the Union Buildings in Pretoria – the official seat of the South African government – South Africa hosted Nicaragua in Soweto on Friday in the final warm-up.
As well as wanting to take Bafana past the group stage for the first time in four appearances, Bruce hopes the World Cup can serve as a 'shop window' for South African talent.
– 'Loss' –
“When we face other African countries in the World Cup or AFCON, we face teams full of footballers from European clubs,” he told reporters.
“It's a disadvantage for South Africa. There's a gap between the (local) premiership and Europe. I hope more players from here will get the opportunity to play abroad in the future.”
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“To close the gap you need South Africa to play in very difficult conditions. If they can be successful in Europe, South Africa will become a powerful football nation.”
When Bruce arrived in South Africa in 2021, he was shocked to see overweight footballers and many players drinking alcohol before matches.
“It's OK to drink beer after qualifying for the World Cup. But you can't do that while preparing for a match,” Bruce said.
Of the 32 contenders for World Cup places, only five are based in Europe. The other two are with Major League Soccer clubs in the United States.
None of the five South Africans who feature a striker will be at a club in one of the top five European leagues next season after Burnley lyle fosterWere demoted.
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Centre-back Imee Okon is with German second-tier outfit Bayern Munich and full-back Samukele Kabini Queues for Molde norway.
Midfielder Sphelo plays for Sithole Tondela portugal and Cypriot club AEL Limassol striker Thapelo Maseko.
The US-based duo are both defenders – Chicago Fire's Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Olwethu Makhanya From philadelphia union.
Mbokazi is not just a rising centre-back star, he plays a powerful left-footed shot from long range.
The 20-year-old upset Bruce by arriving late to a training camp this year, sparking racism claims against the coach.
After the coach and player met, Bruce said, “He (Mbokazi) is a black man, but he will come out of my room as a white man”.
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Bruce later admitted that his choice of words was wrong, adding, “Some people may consider me a good coach, some a bad coach, but no one would call me a racist”.
The Belgian was also unhappy that Mbokazi chose an American club rather than a European club, and called the defender's mixed-race agent “a nice little lady who thinks she knows football”.
Allegations of gender discrimination followed and another apology from the coach, who led Cameroon to the 2017 AFCON title despite the absence of several stars.
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