President of Ghana's Football Association, Kurt Edwin Simeon Okraku has hailed South Africa coach, Hugo Broos, for taking a firm stand on his player selection for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Belgian trainer named a 23-man squad for the tournament in Ivory Coast, leaving out Burley's leading scorer Lyle Foster.

His decision has seen him receive criticisms from fans of the Bafana Bafana as the team prepares for the tournament.

Hugo Broos, Kurt Okraku, South Africa, Ghana — Kurt Okraku has praised South Africa coach Hugo Broos before the start of AFCON. Credit: @GhanaBlackstar @BafanaBafana
Source: Twitter

However, Broos responded, sighting an example with the Cameroon team he led to win AFCON 2017.

"SAFA hired my services without 56 million people involved. They asked me to take the national team forward. They never told me that they also hired other 56 million coaches to coach Bafana Bafana," he said, as quoted by Ghana Soccernet.

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"Now people come to me and ask why did you not pick that player who plays for that club. As long I am here I pick whoever delivers for me. you can play for PSG, Bayern, etc, if you're not fit for my system you won't be called up.

"I came across a similar situation with the Cameroon national team, people were not happy at all with the squad I chose for Gabon AFCON 2017, but we won the Cup. Suddenly they were the first to throw sweets at me after throwing stones. In Africa, you are told what to do, in Europe you completely become a boss until you are sacked or resign."

His comment drew some admiration from the Ghana FA boss, who described Broos as a 'top guy' on social media.

South Africa have been drawn in Group E alongside Tunisia, Mali and Namibia, as reported by the BBC.

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Hugo Broos names AFCON squad

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that the final decision has been made for the men to be sent in pursuit of history.

Hugo Broos will lead South Africa into their 11th Africa Cup of Nations in roughly two weeks and is reading out the names of his 23-man squad.

The tournament will be staged in Ivory Coast and begins in Abidjan on January 13 when the hosts take on Guniea-Bissau.

Authors

Lukman Mumuni

Lukman Abdul Mumin is a Sports Journalist based in Accra, Ghana. He has been writing for the past five years. Lukman joined Sports Brief as an Editor for the Local Desk in 2022.