Mninawa Ntloko
12 June 2008
Johannesburg — AN ESCALATING injury crisis has dealt the national team a crushing blow ahead of Saturday's away 2010 African Nations Cup qualifier against Sierra Leone.
Bafana Bafana doctors decided to leave concussed Moroka Swallows defender Bevan Fransman in SA as a precautionary measure when the team departed for Freetown yesterday afternoon. Captain Aaron Mokoena also still has a cloud of uncertainty hovering above him, though he was allowed to travel with the side.
Mokoena did not train with the team all week and was forced to watch his colleagues from the sidelines after an injury on his left shin forced him to be taken off the pitch during Bafana's 4-1 win over Equatorial Guinea last Saturday.
While the Bafana camp said Mokoena would undergo a late fitness test either tomorrow or on Saturday morning, it emerged yesterday that the captain is actually unlikely to play and was asked to accompany the team to offer moral support in Freetown.
It was evident all week that coach Joel Natalino Santana was already preparing for life without Mokoena and the Brazilian is unlikely to change what looked to be the starting line-up at training yesterday morning.
Mokoena and Fransman's places at the back were taken by Super Sport United's Bongani Khumalo and Kaizer Chiefs' Mokete Tsotetsi during training. The newcomers looked comfortable and it is unlikely that Santana will risk changing a defensive combination he has used all week on the day of a potentially tricky away encounter.
Macbeth Sibaya should captain the side if Mokoena fails to recover after the midfielder was awarded the armband against Equatorial Guinea.
The injuries list has been growing since the African Nations Cup qualifying campaign began early this month.
Adding to the litany of injury problems yesterday, Chiefs midfielder Gerald Sibeko was also left behind in SA because of a thigh muscle strain which forced him out of the team.
Bafana have already had to make do without Nasief Morris and Elrio van Heerden, both recovering from operations.
And to complete the run of bad luck, Mamelodi Sundowns' Benson Mhlongo has spent the past few weeks recuperating after he was injured at training a couple of days before his side's Nedbank Cup final against Mpumalanga Black Aces last month.
But Bafana spokesman Sifiso Cele said Mhlongo, Sibeko and Fransman would rejoin the camp when the team returns from Freetown on Sunday morning as they are all expected to have recovered by then.
PROBABLE BAFANA LINE-UP
Itumeleng Khune, Tsepo Masilela, Bryce Moon, Bongani Khumalo, Mokete Tsotsetsi, Macbeth Sibaya, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Teko Modise, Steven Pienaar, Surprise Moriri and Thembinkosi Fanteni
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