Snl24 | Chiefs star: I would have liked to see my teammates at Bafana

Sibongiseni Mthethwa of Kaizer Chiefs congratulates Edmilson Dove of Kaizer Chiefs on scoring during the DStv Premiership match between Kaizer Chiefs and Sekhukhune United at Moses Mabhida Stadium on September 27, 2023 in Durban, South Africa.

Darren Stewart/Gallo Images

Defender Edmilson Dove has shared his thoughts on the absence of Kaizer Chiefs players from Bafana Bafana’s AFCON squad.

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos did not minced his words in his assessment of Amakhosi, repeatedly stating that in their current form, none of the current players at the club make the cut to the national team.

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“I said they don’t deserve to be in the national team. I did not mean that they didn’t have the skills but their performances were not enough to be at Bafana,” Broos said in October, defending comments he made a week prior, stating none of the players at Chiefs were good enough to play for Bafana.

“At that moment, Chiefs had four points out of 12 and we saw what the reaction was after the defeat against TS Galaxy. I don’t think that I said something wrong,”

Although Given Msimango, Bruce Bvuma and Sibongiseni Mthethwa were named in the initial 50-man preliminary squad, the trio did not make it to the final 23-man cut, with Mthethwa named as a stand-by player.

Dove, who will be the sole representative for Amakhosi at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be held in Ivory Coast believes his teammates deserved to be in West Africa for the continental showpiece.

“I would have liked to see some of my teammates called into the national team,” Dove told the club’s media.

“But at the end of the day, the coach is the right guy to decide who he wants to pick. I want to wish South Africa well and hope they do their country proud.”

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Meanwhile, Chiefs went into the AFCON break on the back of a positive run that has seen them unbeaten in four conservative matches, with three wins from last five matches.

Chiefs sit sixth on the DStv Premiership table after 16 matches and 11 points behind log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

“We didn’t start the season as well as we would have wished,” added Dove.

“But I think we have been steadily picking up the pieces and ended the year on a high, so now we want to go into 2024 with the same momentum.”

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