Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has set a precedent that he may not be able to live up to, especially with overseas-based players, after a decision on Teboho Mokoena.
Broos made a big compromise to include the Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder in his final 23-man squad for 2025 Africa Cup of Nations back-to-back qualifiers against Congo-Brazzaville, given that he has not been featuring at club level.
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To put it into perspective, before scoring a brace against Congo in a 5-0 win last Friday, the player had not played a competitive match for a month, and crucially, missed five consecutive games for his side.
He had been dropped from the squad that played in the CAF Champions League second preliminary round against Mbabane Swallows (over two legs) and has not featured since, even on the bench, in subsequent Betway Premiership matches against SuperSport United, Marumo Gallants and Kaizer Chiefs.
Under normal circumstances, a national team coach would follow and bend to circumstances that prevail at club level and although Mokoena vindicated the Belgian's decision, had he under-performed in a very serious match, Broos would have carried the can for it.
This would follow the same trend as when he insisted on playing Veli Mothwa, who had not had minutes at AmaZulu FC, compared to Orlando Pirates' Sipho Chaine and Ricardo Goss of SuperSport United, in an AFCON qualifier against Uganda.
Mothwa was largely responsible for the two goals conceded in a 2-2 draw.
Fact of the matter is that the Belgian has made a habit of excluding certain overseas players from the Bafana squad on the basis of no game-time at club level, even for a few matches.
It is a list that includes Njabulo Blom, Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Fagrie Lakay, to mention three.
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The overseas contingent would have followed the Mokoena story very closely, with the thinking that it would be completely unfair to those players, including the ones based locally, if the head coach continues to play the former Matsatsantsa star should he continue to be sidelined at The Brazilians.