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Cape Town - Sunday's
Nelson Mandela Challenge encounter between South Africa and Ivory Coast
has been thrown into doubt after less than half of Bafana Bafana's
squad reported for training on Thursday.
Shakes Mashaba was forced to cancel Bafana's planned Milpark Stadium training session as only 11 of his initial 23-man squad reported for duty ahead of this weekend's tie, which falls outside of the official FIFA calendar.
Granted, numerous members of the team were never expected to arrive at camp, with Kaizer Chiefs, as was their right, having refused to release Eric Mathoho and Brilliant Khuzwayo, while Bidvest Wits followed suit in the cases of Thulani Hlatshwayo and Jabulani Shongwe.
Chippa United's David Zulu had also been withdrawn after picking up an injury while playing in the Premiership on Wednesday, although there is no word regarding the other six squad members who apparently went AWOL.
The news has since thrown this weekend's Challenge clash into disarray, while also leaving question marks over Bafana's readiness for next year's Africa Cup of Nations finals, with Mashaba having proposed several friendly matches in the build-up to the tournament, with those games also to be played outside of FIFA's official calendar.
Shakes Mashaba was forced to cancel Bafana's planned Milpark Stadium training session as only 11 of his initial 23-man squad reported for duty ahead of this weekend's tie, which falls outside of the official FIFA calendar.
Granted, numerous members of the team were never expected to arrive at camp, with Kaizer Chiefs, as was their right, having refused to release Eric Mathoho and Brilliant Khuzwayo, while Bidvest Wits followed suit in the cases of Thulani Hlatshwayo and Jabulani Shongwe.
Chippa United's David Zulu had also been withdrawn after picking up an injury while playing in the Premiership on Wednesday, although there is no word regarding the other six squad members who apparently went AWOL.
The news has since thrown this weekend's Challenge clash into disarray, while also leaving question marks over Bafana's readiness for next year's Africa Cup of Nations finals, with Mashaba having proposed several friendly matches in the build-up to the tournament, with those games also to be played outside of FIFA's official calendar.
