Bafana Bafana head coach Pitso Mosimane has revealed that Aubrey Modiba picked up a hamstring injury during South Africa’s 2-1 win over Guinea in their AFCON qualifier on Saturday.
Modiba was replaced by Samukele Kabini in the second half, with the youngster going on to score the winning goal 12 minutes from time after Ime Okon had opened the scoring for Mosimane’s side.
Modiba is the latest Bafana player to suffer an injury after Nkosinathi Sibisi was forced to withdraw following a knock in training.
Speaking after the victory over Guinea, Mosimane confirmed that Modiba was struggling with his hamstring.
“Aubrey’s got a tight hamstring, which is not nice for us, but at least we still have Basadien, right? And we still have Kabini. Hence we have 30 players, and you can see that people are falling off and we just played one match,” he told the media.
Bafana have injury crisis in defence but…
Mosimane explained that he opted to bring more players into the squad because Bafana face a demanding schedule, with three matches to be played within 10 days.
“I know it’s not easy for the football association having 30 players, but if we need to be at that level and get results, this is the reality. I don’t call 30 because I choose to call 30. Jurgen Klopp called 42 to the German national team.
“I want to build a relationship with the teams so that I can give them the players before the FIFA break ends, so that when I ask for a favour, they can return the favour,” he said.
Bafana will have to navigate the injury of Modiba while Sibisi is expected to be fit for the next game.
Pitso’s men will now turn their attention to their next AFCON qualifier against Eritrea before an anticipated friendly against Egypt a few days later.