“The Story of Lyle Foster,” as told by Hugo Broos

“That’s the story of Lyle Foster,” shrugged Hugo Broos via a Microsoft Teams link from his home country of Belgium. The Bafana Bafana coach had just narrated what led to Burnley striker Lyle Foster being left out of the final Bafana Bafana squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to be staged in Ivory Coast.

“We had a lot of contact over the last few weeks with Burnley and especially the coach Kompany. First of all they said, ‘forget it he will not be with you at AFCON’,” began Broos in his usual ‘hide nothing and straight talk’ demeanor.

Did this shut down from Burnley stop our Broos from selecting Foster in the preliminary squad? Noo.

“Still I selected him in the preliminary selection because I thought, you never know. I was surprised that two weeks ago he played one half. I immediately phoned Kompany and said, ‘hey what is this? I don’t understand this’,” Broos continued.

The context to this Broos narrative is that Burnley announced Lyle Foster had mental problems and was going to be helped by the club through his issues. The same Burnley also said Foster would not be part of the playing squad while undergoing rehabilitation. This is where Hugo Broos’ surprise comes from dear reader.

So anyway, back to the story.

“He(Kompany) explained to me that okay he(Foster) played 45 minutes but he wasn’t ready. There was still the danger that he could have the same problems he had two months ago,” Undaunted Broos says he told Kompany, “Okay, I will not discuss with you, I will talk to the doctors.”

Broos didn’t talk to the Burnley doctors. He did a “my people will call your people.”

“So our doctor had contact with the doctors at Burnley. I got the medical report that stated it was impossible, I repeat, it was impossible for Foster to be at AFCON. This is the medical. Don’t ask me why, but the and the danger is still there that if it goes in a bad direction with Lyle that he goes back to where he started three months ago,” narrated the straight talking Broos from his Belgium office or living room.

Burnley had not finished ‘surprising’ Broos.

“I was also surprised to see that last weekend that he played again. Again, this a medical decision. It’s not my decision,” said Broos.

“Don’t forget that three weeks ago, Foster himself wrote a letter to SAFA that he didn’t want to assist at the AFCON because of mental problems,” Broos went on.

“I’m not happy that he’s not there because he is a very good striker, but again, this is a medical decision and I can’t do anything about it.”

And so the story of Lyle Foster not going to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations ends. For now.