Manqoba Mngqithi has taken no hesitation in throwing punches at Hugo Broos over the matter relating to Teboho Mokoena and Khuliso Mudau.
Broos put Mngqithi to task about why Mokoena and Mudau were not playing during the FIFA dates when Bafana Bafana played Congo-Brazzaville.
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The pair were called up to the squad despite having had little to no game time since the September FIFA dates.
Mokoena had no minutes at all at Sundowns, while Mudau featured once in between the last two Bafana camps.
"No, man, Broos is just talking. He must manage his house and allow me to manage my house," responded Mngqithi when asked about the two during the Carling Knockout press conference in Johannesburg north on Thursday.
"Because nobody tells me who plays in this team.
"I cannot be expected to be told by another coach who to play in my team.
"The truth is we all know the quality of the players and they are going to help us, and we don't have any problem with them.
"Whatever minor issues we may have had have been resolved.
"But each man for his own family.
"We must take care of our own spaces.
"Nobody says anything when he plays eight defenders… we keep quiet because it is his choice, and we respect it.
"I respect him as a coach because he has done very well for this country.
"Everybody is excited he got a bronze (at the AFCON).
"So, he must understand that we have a responsibility to manage our whole squads just like he is managing his own squad.
"So, I don't have much to say in that space.
"The best thing that could ever happen is for him to call me or for us to have a call where will talk about our situations because I never say: 'Why you select that player or you don't select that player'.
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"And I don't expect another coach to do that, maybe administrators have the right to say that.
"But with the respect that I have for him, he will give me a call and we discuss this thing as coaches.
"No one is bigger than anyone else, we are both coaches," says Mngqithi.