Broos says playing in the MLS has made Bafana star Hlongwane a top modern player

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos believes Bongokuhle Hlongwane’s move to the Major League Soccer (MLS) has made the starlet a better and dangerous player.

Hlongwane, who left the Premier Soccer League in January to join Minnesota United in the US, scored a brace when Bafana came from a goal down to beat Mozambique 2-1 in a friendly match at Mbombela Stadium on Thursday night.

Aside from the goals that spared South Africa some serious blushes, the former Maritzburg United target man was very impressive against Mozambique.

He terrorised the Mambas defenders with his power game, agility and excellent speed and Broos couldn’t be happier.

“ Bongokuhle is a man who is very dangerous. He is fast and he has more power since he has started playing in America,” Broos said.

“You can see his body. He tells me he goes to the gym two times a week. This is how modern football is.

"You need power. Not that you need to have big legs and arms, but power when you run.

“When Bongokuhle is sprinting you see power. And therefore I chose him for this game and not (Kgaogelo) Sekgota,” the coach said.

“But also I also knew Bongokuhle will not be able to play 90 minutes because the last time he played was on October 15. But he was able to do 75 minutes.

“He was dangerous, he was dominant.”

Having said he is looking for a win and top performance on the field, Broos was happy with that as well.

“It’s not only the win, it’s the way that we got the win,” he said.

“I think we played a very good game. We made a little mistake at the beginning of the game and they took the lead. But we controlled the game from the first minute.

“We had 10 (goal scoring) chances in the game and I’m happy with that. I’m not only happy, but I’m also proud of the team because we saw something in September and we worked on it in the last few days.”

After their unconvincing 1-0 win over Botswana in September, Broos was not impressed with his side’s performance and went as far as saying some players might not feature for Bafana again, at least during his reign.

“That is a good thing to see as a coach, when players do what I asked them to do on the pitch,” a thrilled Broos said after the game against Mozambique on Thursday.

“This gives more confidence and we will try to win the game (against Angola) on Sunday also. If we can achieve that, I think we are more than ready for the important games in March.”

Bafana and Angola will battle it out at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday (2.30pm).