It could hardly have been a more harrowing Monday for Bafana Bafana as Godfrey Sapula dropped out of the squad to play Chad in an African Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday — and the prodigal Benni McCarthy was a conspicuous absentee from the training camp in Durban.
Mamelodi Sundowns’ Sapula suffered what is thought to be a serious hamstring injury during the Absa Cup final defeat against Ajax Cape Town on Saturday and was replaced by Golden Arrows’ in-form Papi Zothwane.
Carlos Alberto Parreira called up Teko Modise, a player who had featured prominently in weekend Cosafa Cup games — swelling the number of players in the squad to 20.
Of these, 10 players turned up in Durban on Monday but only McCarthy was listed as ”unaccounted for” by the Bafana technical staff.
Blackburn Rovers’ McCarthy, one of South Africa’s most publicised players after finishing second top-scorer to Didier Drogba in the English Premiership in the past season, was selected by Parreira in spite of declaring he would not return to the Bafana fold until he had sorted out a number of pressing problems with Safa.
”The coach has declared that all the players apart from Delron Buckley, who is involved in a major game for his club in Switzerland and will arrive in South Africa on Wednesday, must report to the camp in Durban by lunch-time on Tuesday,” said a team spokesperson. – Sapa