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Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has accused Njabulo Blom’s US club, St Louis City SC, of trying to keep the midfielder away from the national team’s crucial back-to-back Afcon qualifiers against Liberia next week.
Blom is among the 23 players Broos named to his squad during an announcement at the SABC studios in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, which was screened live by the public broadcaster on Thursday.
The Belgian said he reached out to the 23-year-old and his club, which told him that the player may have contracted Covid-19, but the veteran tactician was visibly irritated by the lack of communication from player and the club.
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St Louis are top of the western conference in the US top division after winning their opening three matches of the new season.
Blom made his debut off the bench last month, in the club’s first match. He started the second, but was not in the squad last Sunday as his club racked a third successive win.
Broos said:
Asked if he was nervous that Blom may not pitch, Broos said:
The 70-year-old coach warned that Blom’s club must not play games with him.
He expressed the importance of being made aware on time if he will need a replacement for Blom, but cautioned the Major League Soccer outfit that Safa would not take the matter lying down if the player does not report for camp.
“When the situation is not clear, you start to think about other things that may not be there,” bemoaned Broos.
St Louis City have a game on Sunday, five days before Bafana host Liberia at Orlando Stadium on March 24, and have another game on March 26, two days before the country’s return leg match in Monrovia on March 28.
READ: Bafana to use charter flight to Liberia for crucial 2023 Afcon qualifier
While the US top division is only three games into the new season, Broos said he had reason to believe that the club wants to hold on to Blom.
“I saw that, in America, next week there is a league game, and again on March 26 they play,” said Broos.
Another US-based Bafana star, Bongokuhle Hlongwane of Minnesota United, will be in the Bafana squad even though his team has a game on April 2 – against Blom’s club.
Broos said:
Bafana will assemble in Johannesburg on Sunday, after the last round of the DStv Premiership matches, before the Fifa break.
