Bafana boss Hugo Broos focusing on the positives ahead of Ghana friendly

Broos' side get their AFCON charge underway in Morocco against Angola at Stade de Marrakech on Monday, ahead of clashes with Egypt and Zimbabwe for the control of Group B.

They remain without key players Lyle Foster, Siphephelo Sithole and Shandre Campbell for their final friendly encounter with Ghana on Tuesday, and the game comes as the Bafana boss is forced to backtrack from comments he made in a press conference directed at star defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi and his agent.

Broos critisiced the pair after Mbokazi agreed a deal to join Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire ahead of the continental competition.

But as he focuses his attentions on the Black Stars, Broos insists the "mentality" in the group is strong and will only improve once the full squad is together.

He said on IOL: "I am happy with the camp till now. The mentality is good. The workload is good. The motivation is good."

"We have to go back to the basics," the coach added. "It is not what I wanted to see when we talk about football technical things. There are some things that we were strong on that I didn't see this time in training.

"Maybe it is because we are not complete, so it is not easy to do when some important players like Foster and Sithole are still not here. Ngezana arrived (Sunday). Sithole is playing (Monday), Campbell played 10 minutes (Sunday) and Foster played on Saturday, so we decided to let them come directly to Marrakech.

"I am not worried at all, but the players are aware that the football technical things could be better in the next few days. We still have time before we arrive in Morocco."

Ahead of facing Ghana, Broos explained that he won't be focused on the result as he cannot pick a team close to his preferred starting eleven.

"The game (Tuesday) is more of a training game than a selection game. I am happy we have a game, even against a team that is not the strongest, but we have a game," he said.

"On the other side, I can leave some players out because they have small injuries and I don't want to risk them getting more serious injuries and missing the AFCON. We will give the opportunity to other players to play and adapt a little bit to Bafana.

“If everyone was here, maybe we would play with the team that will start at AFCON, but now that they are not here, I can give opportunities to players who have not played much, like Thabang Matuludi, to adapt to the way of playing. It is a training game, not a selection game, but I still want to win it.”