Hugo Broos revealed his squad for the upcoming World Cup at a lavish Pretoria ceremony on Wednesday night.
Selected ahead of the in-form Amakhosi stopper was Mamelodi Sundowns captain Ronwen Williams, on loan Siwelele stopper Ricardo Goss and Sipho Chaine from Orlando Pirates.
Despite Petersen’s excellent form this past season, the experienced Belgian technichan explained that he decided to select players he was more familiar with going into such a big competition.
Williams, Goss and Chaine have been Broos’ preferred trio and Petersen missed out despite arguably his best ever South Africa top-flight campaign where he kept 15 clean sheets in 24 Betway Premiership matches.
“We only had two days of the camp, and we had top goalkeepers in camp,” the head coach said on iDiski Times.
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“But I don’t know Brandon as a person, and I couldn’t decide on him on those two days. That’s why he was dropped.
“It was purely a matter of integration to the team. I don’t know, how he’ll react when he doesn’t start.”
Petersen was one of six players to miss out on a place at the World Cup, alongside Thabiso Monyane, Lebohang Maboe, Brooklyn Poggenpoel, Patrick Maswanganyi and Thapelo Morena.