Head coach Hugo Broos has explained the challenge with Cape Town City striker Khanyisa Mayo, who makes a return to Bafana Bafana after missing out on the AFCON.
Broos announced his final 23-man squad for upcoming friendlies against Andorra and Algeria on Monday. One of the eyebrow-raisers was the inclusion of Mayo, who had not been named in the initial preliminary squad and had also missed out on the Bafana squad that went to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in January.
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With nine goals to his name in the DStv Premiership, questions have been raised as to why Broos seems yet to be fully convinced of the striker’s abilities.
Speaking shortly after the announcement of the squad, Broos explained why he had been reluctant to call up the Citizens’ frontman.
"I find that Mayo is sometimes out of the game," the Belgian told journalists.
"You look at him and you don’t see him. He is there, but no action, nothing. You can’t be like that as a striker, certainly not at the level we play.
"So, I think maybe it’s also a mental problem for him. To have that mentality of ‘I want to show it’."
"Again, he is a nice guy, I liked him and therefore he was with us because there is potential, but he needs to make that step and if he doesn’t, he will always be [just] someone that scores goals and he will never reach that international level that we want.
"Mayo was not at AFCON because he didn’t progress.
"He was good, but he needed that step more to be a real Bafana Bafana player, but he didn’t and therefore he was not with us at AFCON.
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"Now again, with all the injuries we have, I give him again a chance, so it’s up to him to show I can reach that level of Bafana Bafana.
“If he can, then okay, we have a good striker, a young one, so that means that for the future, okay, we will have less problems."
Bafana take on Andorra on 21 March, before going head-to-head with Algeria five days later.
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