Monnapule Saleng has been once again excluded from Hugo Broos' Bafana Bafana squad that will face Uganda and South Sudan in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next month.
Saleng has been one of the impressive players at the Buccaneers in the CAF Champions League preliminaries and the MTN8 first-leg semi-final against Cape Town City.
However, Saleng did not have the best of runs in the 2023/24 season where he played second fiddle to Relebohile Mofokeng, Tshegofatso Mabasa, Kabelo Dlamini and Patrick Maswanganyi, who were the often preferred by Bucs mentor Jose Riveiro.
This is one of the reasons why Broos overlooked him for a place in his 23-man squad.
“Saleng had a very irregular season last year. He promised a lot the year before but now, he disappointed a little bit. I just want to see Saleng going back to his old shape two years ago when he scored goals and was assisting for Pirates.
“At a certain moment he was one of the best strikers in the country. But the coach put him on the bench last season. But it is a new season now and let’s hope it will be the same Saleng that we know and we need,” said Broos.
Broos called up five Pirates players, the second biggest representation from the same club. Downs, who normally make up most of the fabric that clothes the Bafana team. However, Sundowns players have been a shadow of themselves since the season kick-off with the MTN8.
“At the moment the problem is that the players are not used to playing so much official games. They only play friendly games except the two MTN8 games against Polokwane City and Stellenbosch.
“But we saw in the game against Stellenbosch that they were one step faster than them because they are used to playing competition already.
“I am not concerned because they are good players who will come back. At the moment, we don’t see Sundowns the way we saw them last season. The reason for that is they are still in pre-season mode.
“The players have the quality and they will come back, they just need to those games where you have to fight for winning. If you lose a friendly game, it is not good but what’s the problem?
