Johannesburg – Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki was on Wednesday afternoon nursing a big headache with some overseas clubs refusing to release some Bafana players for the important back-to-back Afcon qualifying matches against Ghana on 25 March and Sudan four days later.
Ntseki named nine Bafana players who are based abroad in his 26-Man team that will face the Black Stars of Ghana and Sudan next week, but it seems that he will not get most of those players due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even though it is a Fifa calendar week, it seems the clubs are exercising their right to hold on to their players whose countries are on a red-list travel ban – South Africa is one of those countries.
“We are finalizing the availability and non-availability of certain overseas-based players,” Ntseki told Sunday World on Wednesday afternoon.
“We have a challenge from the Abu Dhabi (Thulani Serero) and we also have a challenge from our players based in the UK and France. We are trying to see who are we going to get and then decide on the replacements. The situation is not ideal but we are on top of it. By tomorrow we will know everything, finalize the squad and we will be able to give you full information,” Ntseki added.
This means that the likes of UK pair Percy Tau, Bongani Zungu and Dean Furman won’t be part of the squad. SA players in Portugal are Lyle Foster, Thabang Phete and Luther Singh are also unlikely to be released by their clubs. Keagan Dolly is in France.
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