Bafana Bafana face more injury headaches as Mashego pulls out

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has been forced to make more adjustments to his squad following an injury to another defender.

South Africa are preparing to host Sierra Leone in an international friendly match at FNB Stadium on Saturday, before clashing with neighbours Botswana next Tuesday at the same venue.

Mamelodi Sundowns left-back Terrence Mashego has been released from camp with a thigh injury and has since been replaced by Siyanda Msani of Richards Bay.

“Warm welcome to Siyanda Msani to camp, as Terrence Mashego is released due to injury,” an announcement was made on Wednesday.

It is not the first time Msani is with the national team after he was part of the Cosafa Cup squad in July.

Broos has had to keep on making changes to his squad as injuries continue to haunt his camp.

The Egypt-based duo of Percy Tau and Fagrie Lakay were not selected as they were already battling fitness issues.

Striker Bongokuhle Hlongwane of Major League Soccer outfit Minnesota United was also ruled out because of injury.

Defender-cum-midfielder Thibang Phete and Lyle Foster also got injured and were replaced by Siyanda Xulu and Kaizer Chiefs forward Ashley du Preez.

Now, Mashego is the latest casualty after picking up his injury last Sunday when he made his Sundowns debut against AmaZulu.

Bafana Bafana team doctor Tshepo Molobi explained Mashego’s injury.

“With regards to Terrence, he sustained an injury prior to joining the Bafana camp and as standard procedure, he presented himself to the national team for assessment and investigations,” Molobi told Safa media.

“Based on those, a decision is then taken whether to release the player or to keep him within the camp. So with regards to that, he has not trained at all since arriving while we were waiting for and securing radiological investigations to actually confirm our diagnostic suspicions.

“So we secured radiology scan on Wednesday morning which indeed confirmed the left thigh injury and that confirmed our suspicions and as a result, we had to release him from camp and also release him into the care of his club medical team who have been informed for them to continue with treatment.”

Broos might not be too worried by Mashego’s injury as he already had two other experienced left-backs in his squad in Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela and Sundowns’ Aubrey Modiba.