Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has confirmed that he will meet with Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos on Sunday following recent public disagreements.

Broos, when announcing his Bafana Bafana squad for October’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, criticized Mngqithi for leaving out key players Teboho Mokoena and Khuliso Mudau, who have not been seeing much playing time with Sundowns. Both players are crucial to the Bafana Bafana squad and played important roles in their bronze medal finish at the recent Africa Cup of Nations.

Prior to Sundowns’ Carling Knockout Cup match on Saturday, Mngqithi responded to Broos’ criticism, suggesting that the national team coach should focus on his own team and not question his player selection.

“With regards to coach Broos and the national team, my utterances and his utterances, we will be having a meeting between me and him on Sunday at Chloorkop,” said Mngqithi. 

“So, I think we will move forward in that and create a better environment because he’s got lot of our players. We support the national team and probably we support SAFA in general because even in the junior national teams, we have a lot of players there.”

Mngqithi added that by fostering better relationships between club coaches and the national team coach, it would be easier to identify and develop talented players from various clubs.

“So, it is only proper for us as coaches or as leaders of these institutions to try and find each other and be able to communicate because it is only for the good,” he said.

“Because you would find that the other players that he may not have looked at them very closely, but when we communicate and gets to know what I feel about those individuals, it makes his life easier because I believe he’s got a pool of players that he can get from our club – from Orlando Pirates, from Kaizer Chiefs, SuperSport United, and all these clubs. But, without good relations between the coaches, it makes it very difficult to even assist where we think we can assist.”

Sundowns convincingly defeated Arrows 5-0 in their Carling Knockout Cup first-round match on Saturday, securing their place in the quarterfinals. The draw for the next round will take place on Sunday.