Gaston Sirino’s hopes of representing South Africa at the international level have been crushed into pieces by Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos.
The Uruguayan-born Kaizer Chiefs star, Sirino, is allowed to play for Bafana having received a South African passport.
Some have called for the forward who arrived in South Africa in 2018 to play for Mamelodi Sundowns to be included in coach Broos’ team.
With Bafana star player Themba Zwane out with an injury for the last batch of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers, Broos was asked if he considered Sirino as an option.
“No, I have to be honest. No,” Broos said during the announcement of his 23-man squad on SABC Sport.
The coach acknowledged the Uruguayan, who has won seven league titles in South Africa, is a fantastic player but said Sirino is not what he is looking for in the Bafana setup.
“I know that Sirino is a very good player and I know also he can be very important for Chiefs, but he is not really the player I want,” Broos said.
“Secondly, he is also (33 years old), I think. I looked for months to have somebody else than Themba because he was old at that time and I couldn’t go and take another older player.
“I want to find younger players than Sirino even though he is a good player.”
South Africa play Uganda on Friday, November 15 at Mandela National Stadium in the East African country, and will host South Sudan at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday, November 19.
A victory for Bafana against the Ugandan Cranes will see them confirm their place in the finals to be held in Morocco.
@sabcsport 🗣️ "𝙽𝚘! 𝙷𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊 𝚝𝚢𝚙𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝" Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says he has never considered Gastón Sirino to be part of his team! 🚨 LIVE 📺 SABC Sport | SABC 1 🌐 sabc-plus.com #SABCSportFootball
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