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Cape Town - Anele Ngcongca will not be part of the Bafana Bafana squad as he is set to go for scans following an unconfirmed injury.
Anele Ngcongca has been ruled out with an
injury and will not be part of South Africa’s back-to-back Africa Cup of
Nations qualifiers against Congo-Brazzaville, coach Shakes Mashaba said
in Rustenburg on Tuesday.
Read: Shakes keen on U17 players
“We got an email from his club team yesterday informing us that he’s injured. We’re waiting for them to take him for a scan,” Mashaba said.
“They’ll send us the report, but he’s not going to be with us.”
Ngcongca, who plays for Belgian club KRC Genk, was expected to arrive along with four other overseas-based players late Monday evening, but he was not present at Tuesday morning’s training session at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus.
Thulani Serero, Andile Jali, Tokelo Rantie and Dean Furman had all arrived safely and were in camp, however, they did not take part in the first training session of the day, after only arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Mashaba said the quartet would take part later in the day.
Ngcongca was the second player to withdraw from the original squad of 26, following the news on Monday that Ayabulela Magqwaka suffered a calf strain.
Mashaba had said he would not be calling up a replacement for Magqwaka, but with Ngcongca also absent, the coach said he would now be forced to consider a replacement.
“We’re considering [replacements], just to make sure that we don’t run short. It’s not a train smash, we expected this,” Mashaba said.
“We can’t give names until we have notified the clubs.”
Bafana Bafana depart on Thursday afternoon for Point-Noire, the Republic of Congo's second largest city after its capital Brazzaville. They return to South Africa on Sunday, ahead of next week's return fixture against the Red Devils in Polokwane.
Bafana Bafana fixtures:
Saturday, October 11, Congo v SA (Pointe Noire) - 16:30
Wednesday, October 15, SA vs Congo (Peter Mokaba Stadium) - 20:05
