Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has revealed that he is a bit frustrated with Bafana Bafana after Aubrey Modiba and Mothobi Mvala picked up injuries during the international break.
Masandawana return to action for the first time since lifting the African Football League trophy when they will face FC Nouadhibou in the first match of their CAF Champions League group stages.
Mokwena had some mixed news from the treatment table, with the likes of Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Peter Shalulile and Sipho Mbule back in contention, while Mvala and Modiba picked up injuries on national team duty – with Mokwena in particular upset about latter’s situation after he featured over 90 minutes in both Bafana matches.
“I’m a bit disappointed because Modiba comes back with an injury,” he said on Friday.
“And the information I get is that there was already the pain and he still had to play 90 minutes on an artificial turf like that in Rwanda, with the rain and all of that with an injury.
“Now we might have Modiba out for a little bit more time. Mothobi now comes back also from Bafana with an injury, so that also for me is always a worry because I haven’t had Mothobi Mvala on the pitch today – it was the first session for the Bafana players.
“So from a periodization perspective it’s very difficult because we gain some players like Lucas [Ribeiro], Peter [Shalulile] and Sipho Mbule, which is fine but then we also lose some players now with Modiba and Mvala.
“But okay, we’ve tried to give some rest, some time especially for the players to spend some time on their families because we’ve been on the road for so long.
“And also to give some time to our medical department to continue to work and I’ve got to give a lot of credit to bioceneticists, our science department our medical department and even the physios, they really helped us through this period because the biggest focus and to be honest was not really training during this break was actually number one recovering players, and number two, regenerating our bodies.
“So when I look at the training and what the bodies look like, it looks a lot better. The only disappointment is that players like Modiba still played for Bafana two times 90 minutes with injuries and now that affects us because now Modiba has to go for a scan and x-ray, because because you’re a little bit worried.
“Mothobi looks like there could be an issue there. And then also with Rivaldo [Coetzee] now out, it leaves us with a few options at centre-back.
“So it’s a bit of an unfortunate situation, but it is what it is, we have to make do with what we have to make do and then win the game on Sunday.”
Sundowns take on Nouadhibou at Loftus Versfeld Stadium at 15:00 on Sunday, with tickets available from R20.
