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AFTER being given a day off from camp on Sunday, Bafana Bafana were back in action on Monday afternoon at the AW Muller Stadium at University of Johannesburg.
But there was bad news for head coach Shakes Mashaba.
Midfielders Cole Alexander and Athenkosi Dlala have been withdrawn from the squad to play in the Cosafa Cup due to injuries, while striker Puleng Tlolane still has to go for further assessment before the technical team can take a decision.
Alexander was stretchered off in the goalless draw against Lesotho after twisting his ankle. He has failed to recover — leading to his withdrawal.
Dlala’s injury is an old one which has resurfaced and he will not be able to recover in time for the tournament.
“I will have to sit with the technical team to see who we can call up as replacements for the injured players. It will be done very quickly because Wednesday [today] is the last day to deregister injured players and register new ones. We have some names we have discussed but we just need to finalise them and inform their clubs as soon as possible so they can hopefully join us at training [yesterday],” said Mashaba.
“It is unfortunate that we have to lose these players after spending one week with them. We have a few days with the replacements and they will have to hit the ground running.”
Tlolane had a collision with the Lesotho goalkeeper and is going to undergo a late fitness test to see if he can be ready for the Cosafa Cup tournament.
Meanwhile, Marc van Heerden (Achilles tendon) and Gift Motupa (ankle) were given a clean bill of health and trained with their team-mates.
— Sports Reporter
