Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has confirmed that Mothobi Mvala is a serious doubt for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Mvala suffered a groin injury in training and is undergoing medical tests today, but he’s not likely to be able to travel with the team, if he’s ruled out for more than 10 days without training.
Tapelo Xoki, who is on standby seems the likely replacement out of the four standby players available to Broos as another centre-back.
Captain Ronwen Williams has not trained for the past four days, while Themba Zwane also missed training on Monday – but Broos confirmed both will be available for the tournament.
“We have a few problems. A few little and a big one,” Broos stated on Tuesday.
“So the little one is here on my right. Ronwen didn’t train with us the last four days but the medical report is positive. So he will start training. He will not play tomorrow but he will be ready for next week Tuesday. There is no doubt about it.
“The second one is Themba. Themba got a kick two days ago at training. He wanted to train yesterday, but it was better not to do, so we stopped training. But again, there will be no problem for next week. But tomorrow Themba will not play.
“And the biggest problem is Mothobi. He has again a groin injury. So the doctor is now with him and we will wait for the medical report.
“It is not sure, it’s not sure that he goes with us to Ivory Coast after tomorrow. So we wait for the report and see how bad the injury is. But I think if we can take him with us and then the next 10 days he can’t train, then I think it is better that we take a new one.
“But we are not so far for the moment but we talked already about it. And I hope, I really hope that it is not so bad. And that with a few days rest he is again with us and I can count on him for next Tuesday.”
Story by Lorenz Kohler (@Lorenz_KO).
