Broos says Tau asked to be excused from Bafana squad

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has explained why he left Percy Tau out of his squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON} qualifiers against Congo-Brazzaville.

Having included him in his preliminary squad, Tau was a notable omission when Broos announced his final 23-man squad on Thursday.

Broos has now revealed that Tau requested not to be included in the Bafana squad to Congo in back-to-back AFCON qualifiers this month.

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“I don’t know, I see things happening, we don’t have to repeat the period after AFCON, they [fans] killed him, they really killed him and it was not fair. It was not fair, okay, he was not really the deciding player or was not really fantastic but he did the job,” Broos told the media.

“Therefore I didn’t call him for Algeria, he told me, ‘Yes coach but’s part of the game.’ Yeah, yeah it is part of the game but it’s in your mind, don’t tell me it’s not in your mind. Then he came back against Zimbabwe and Nigeria and again it started.”

“Then there were the troubles or the problems with Al Ahly, he didn’t play certain moments anymore. There were talks about he would leave, he would not leave, now I heard that they want him to stay,” Broos added.

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“So, it’s always yes or no, yes or no, yes or no. The fact that he’s not here with us now, there’s personal reasons, personal, personal issues. He asked me ‘Coach, please don’t call me, I’m not ready to come because of personal issues’. What can I tell him, no you have to come. Then he’s not ready for it,” concluded Broos.

Bafana face Congo in Gqeberha, on Friday, 11 October, and then they travel to Brazzaville to play the return match on Tuesday, 15 October.