Boosted by one of his best performances for South Africa in the recent 4-0 African Nations Cup qualifying win over Chad, Belgium-based Elrio van Heerden has learnt that fate has a habit of dealing out the wrong cards at the most inopportune moment.
A nagging injury has resulted in Van Heerden being forced to miss Bafana Bafana training sessions during the past two days and South African Football Association communications manager Morio Sanyane on Tuesday revealed that the Club Brugge midfielder is now a doubtful starter for the crunch game against Congo in Pointe Noire on Sunday.
”Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira will assess the medical reports on Van Heerden on Wednesday,” added Sanyane, ”and then make a decision over whether he should resume training and make the trip to Congo on Friday with the other 19 players in the squad.”
Sonyane said Parreira has also decided to cut Bafana’s training over the next two days to one session daily ”because the players have all had long, testing seasons and there is a danger of over-working them”.
Bafana on Tuesday spent time at an indoor sports complex in Modderfontein, which has an artificial pitch similar to the one expected at Pointe Noire.
”But it is utilised for five-a-side soccer only,” said Sanyane, ”and the main purpose was to give the players an insight as to the kind of playing surface to expect in Congo.” — Sapa