10 November 2023 – Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has named his final 23-member squad for this month’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Benin and Rwanda.
Broos’ charges host Benin at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday 18 November 2023 and then travel to East-Central Africa to face Rwanda on Tuesday 21 November 2023.
The Bafana Bafana coach said he has confidence in the players he has selected to get the World Cup qualifying campaign off to a good start. Striker Lyle Foster was not part of the team that was named on Friday afternoon and Broos said the Burnley player’s omission was due to a medical problem.
“I spoke to the doctor of the club and to the coach, and they asked me to be discreet about it. Lyle is a good player and has progressed a lot in the last year,” he said. “He did very well also in the English Premier League with Burnley and already scored three times this season. This is the kind of player you always want in your team, certainly when those important games are coming up. But it is what it is, and we cannot change it. We hope he will recover as soon as possible.”
The team will go into camp at the University of Pretoria on Monday 13 November 2023 and travel to Durban on 17 November 2023. After playing Benin in the coastal city, they will travel to Rwanda on 19 November 2023 and return to South Africa on 22 November.