"I will have to make some painful decisions," admits Bafana boss Hugo Broos ahead of AFCON finals

"I will have to make some painful decisions," admits Bafana boss Hugo Broos ahead of AFCON finals

Broos named a 23-man squad for his team's final friendly with Zambia ahead of the upcoming AFCON to be held in Morocco from December.

He will now fine-tune his selection after giving a number of new call-ups an opportunity to impress in the 3-1 win.

Oswin Appollis broke the deadlock at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the 43rd minute of the tie.

Mohau Nkota then scored in the 62nd minute and Siphephelo Sithole added a third goal on 68 minutes, before a late consolation for Zambia as Joseph Sabobo netted in stoppage time.

Broos put out a strong starting eleven before withdrawing Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena, and Appollis for Sipho Chaine, Nkota, and Thalente Mbatha at half-time.

Khulumani Ndamane and Evidence Makgopa were also introduced after the break.

Broos explinaed: "I know that what was so easy two years ago will now be very difficult to do because we have more than 23 players who can go to AFCON and deserve to go to AFCON. I will make decisions, and some of them will be painful for the players and also for me personally because it’s not a nice thing to drop a player.

"Today (against Zambia) I gave players who hadn't played much in the past some minutes, to see how they react and how they are adapting to the team tactically. Again, I am certainly satisfied but not 100% but I wanted to see what I saw today.

"I think the guys I introduced in the second half we can use them in the future, maybe already for AFCON, like Ndamane. Today he was a little bit hesitant, but you saw him in the previous game against Rwanda; he was very good. It's not easy to come into the game in the second half."