Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter revealed on Monday that both Vincent Pule and Thapelo Morena will undergo scans to determine their fitness ahead of the Afcon double-header against Seychelles, writes DEAN WORKMAN.
The Bafana squad assembled on Monday as they begin their preparations for the African Cup of Nations home and away qualifiers against the Islanders, but they could be without both Pule and Morena who did not feature for their clubs over the weekend.
Mamelodi Sundowns defender Morena sustained a hamstring injury during the warm-up before his side’s game against Bidvest Wits on Sunday and was subsequently withdrawn from the starting 11.
While Orlando Pirates midfielder Pule did not feature in his side’s 1-1 draw with AmaZulu on Saturday evening, but has joined up with the camp along with Morena and will be assessed by the national teams’ doctors.
Speaking to the media, Baxter revealed that the majority of the players have joined up with squad with the exception of Dino Ndlovu, who is still travelling back from China, while also revealing the two injury doubts in the squad.
‘The two bones of contention are the injuries to Vincent Pule and Thapelo Morena.
‘I arrived at the Sundowns game against Wits and 20 minutes before kickoff, Mark Gleeson [SuperSport TV commentator] walked past me and said unlucky and I said what do you mean unlucky. To which he responded, “well Thapelo just pulled a hamstring in the warm-up”.
‘So, I think that is unlucky.
‘We going to get him scanned and we going to get Vincent scanned and armed with the results so we can decide whether we need to call replacements in the squad or if we can manage them to get them fit for either the first or second games,’ concluded Baxter.
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