Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos unhappy with St. Louis City SC over Njabulo Blom’s call-up

Coach expresses grievances

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos is unhappy with St. Louis City SC – the Major League Soccer club Njabulo Blom plays for in the United States. The national team’s mentor expressed his grievances about the manner in which St. Louis handled Blom’s call-up to Bafana for the crucial back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Liberia.

Njabulo Blom’s move to St. Louis City SC

Blom left Kaizer Chiefs in December to join legendary Bafana Bafana defender and St. Louis head coach Bradley Carnell in the US. The 23-year-old has done superbly and caught the attention of Broos.

Unanswered questions

“We had immediate contact with St. Louis. They said he is sick. But what is sick? They didn’t answer. So we had contact with Njabulo, and he said ‘yeah. I don’t feel so good. I think I have Covid’. I said: ‘Ok, but do the test if you think you have Covid’. Today is Thursday. I’ve been speaking [with St. Louis] since Tuesday already. Yesterday, we got a note from St. Louis at five o’clock in the afternoon that the coaching staff and the medical staff were discussing the situation of Blom. We are now 20 hours later, and we didn’t have an answer until now,” Broos lamented.

Something fishy?

Broos believes there is something fishy about the whole ordeal, but the coach is not panicking. The 70-year-old knows the FIFA rule book and says St. Louis will have to deal with the world governing body if they withhold the player from joining the national team.

No nerves, just anger

“I’m not nervous [about the situation]. I’m angry. This is not correct,” Broos confessed. “When the situation is not clear, you’re starting to think about things that maybe are not there. I saw in America that next week, there is a league game. 26 [March], they play – also the team of (Bongokuhle) Hlongwane, but Hlongwane is no problem. I’m afraid that they’re trying to keep Njabulo there but that will not happen. We know the rules, so if he doesn’t come with a correct reason, he will not play with them because then we go to FIFA.”

Upcoming games

South Africa host the West African nation on Friday, 24 March (18:00) at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, and play again four days later on Wednesday, 28 March (18:00 SA time) in the Liberian capital of Monrovia.

The Sport Report

Get the Sport Report every Thursday to stay up to speed with everything you need to know in the world of sport.

Contact the public editor

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

Credit: https://www.news24.com/sport/soccer/bafanabafana/im-angry-this-is-not-correct-bafana-boss-broos-fumes-at-bloms-mls-club-st-louis-20230317

ENND