Bafana coach awaits doctor’s report on Sundowns duo ahead of clashes with Kenya

Bafana Bafana Pitso Mosimane has explained his decisions to include Mamelodi Sundowns duo Ronwen Williams and Teboho Mokoena in his final squad to play Kenya in their Africa Cup of Nations [Afcon] back-to-back qualifiers, despite them having injuries.

While Williams and Mokoena have been recovering and missed recent club fixtures for Sundowns, Mosimane opted to include them in the 27-man squad as they work towards full fitness ahead of the double-header against Kenya.

With the Caf Super Cup final between Sundowns and USM Alger on Sunday at Loftus Versfeld Stadium (3pm), Mosimane said he can only make a decision on whether to drop them should they not feature in that match.

“Well, those are key players for us, who have been leading us to the first Afcon, the second Afcon and the Fifa World Cup and they have been part of the games of Guinea and Eritrea.

“So, they are very important players and we wait for the last time where we say, the doctors must tell me to rule them out. Then we can bring other players like we brought [Tshepang] Moremi last time.

“We have to give them the benefit of the doubt because you and I don’t know. What if they play on Sunday?

Bafana will face Kenya in the first match at Orlando Stadium on November 13 and travel to Nairobi for their return match on November 17

“And I ruled them out today. You will ask me, you have left Teboho and Ronwen [out] and I come to you and say ‘they are injured’.

“We have to be careful with the national team, we wait until the end. It’s a very tricky thing, I’d rather play safe than to regret it, until I know that the player is not available.”

Bafana will face Kenya in the first match at Orlando Stadium on November 13 and travel to Nairobi for their return match on November 17.

Chicago Fire centre back Mbekezeli Mbokazi makes his return from injury, while on-form Siyanda Ndlovu was also included in the squad. Themba Zwane and Nkosinathi Sibisi were dropped, while Thapelo Maseko was not selected due to his injury.

Mosimane said Ndlovu is a perfect replacement for Maseko.

“I think if you look at his last four games, I think he came out with two man-of-the-matches. Scoring and assists are also a little bit of a duplicate of Maseko,” he said.

“I like those wingers, some people like wingers who turn around. I like that. Go inside, one vs one, go behind, those are kind of my wingers.

“He is that kind of player who has intensity, but we still need to check him in the national team because here, it is not the same as club level. We need to create a big pool of players.”