Tough choices ahead as Hugo Broos weighs up final 26-man World Cup squad

The 32-man preliminary squad was announced on Thursday and will be cut down to 26 next Wednesday, 27 May in a squad announcement event that will be live on SABC 3 at 19:00.

Broos says he knows that it won't be easy to select the final 26. 

"It's an exciting time and period for me because a few weeks ago we made a list of 50 players, so that was easy. 50 players is easy, now the players that will start the camp preliminary that was a little bit more difficult but the most difficult of all will be next week the 27th when we announce the 26 players," Broos said.

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Broos will announce the final 26-man squad next Wednesday, alongside President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings, and he says the process of getting down to the final selection will be very interesting, as he will be assisted by his right-hand man, Helman Mkhalele.

"I'm sure there will be players that will not be so happy. There will be players very disappointed but that's the choice I have to make and I have a good assistant, Helman,” he added.

“So, I think next week Monday, Tuesday, we'll still have some meetings together and see that we make the right choices."

Meanwhile, Broos earlier this month finished a full five years in charge of Bafana Bafana, extending his record as the longest-serving senior men’s national football team head coach. 

His impact hasn’t been just on the field but also off the field, with more sponsors coming on board, especially after the World Cup qualification.