Snl24 | Broos On Tau Snub: Bafana Fans ‘Don’t Like Him’

UYO, NIGERIA – JUNE 07: Percy Tau of South Africa during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Qualifier match between Nigeria and South Africa at Godswill Akpabio Stadium on June 07, 2024 in Uyo, Nigeria. (Photo by Oty Silas/Gallo Images)

There are two reasons Hugo Broos has left Percy Tau out of his final Bafana Bafana squad for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, as revealed by the coach.

Once seen as a ‘poster boy’ of South African football, Tau has been on the receiving end of serious criticism in Bafana Bafana colours and Broos has come out to reveal that he has been trying to protect the player from this.

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The former Mamelodi Sundowns player is also going through a rough period at Al Ahly, with a lot of uncertainty surrounding his future with the Red Devils. As things stand, it looks like the player will leave, unless there is a major turnaround in events behind the scenes. 

Tau will miss out on the qualifiers against Uganda and South Sudan in early September, for the fact that Broos does not feel he is ready on a mental level to be playing in matches where there is hardly any room for error.

“With Percy Tau, it was not an easy decision for me not to select him. But there were two things I took into account. First of all, Percy received a lot of criticism for the moment when he plays for Bafana Bafana, so I tried to protect him and support him. For the game against Algeria, he was not there, but then you see after the game against Nigeria it was again the same thing. They don’t like him for the moment and they expect too much. I had contact with him and I said ‘yes, it’s part of the game’. But somebody who tells me it does not affect him is lying,” Broos said after naming his final squad.

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“Secondly, the situation in Al Ahly for the moment is not great. There are a lot of rumours that he is going to leave and there’s a problem with the transfer fee. He doesn’t play anymore. From the beginning of August, he has just played 70 minutes and in other games he was not even on the bench. So, the situation is not good and I was a little bit afraid, with all that, that Percy for the moment is not really ready. We need players who are ready, not only physically, but also mentally because those first two games of the qualifiers are very important. You can’t make a mistake. You have to win those two games and that’s the reason I decided not to take Percy for these two games.”