By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South African foottball national team coach Hugo Broos has confirmed that midfielder Thapelo Maseko will miss the rest of AFCON with a hamstring injury.
Maseko had to come off in the quarter-final win against Cape Verde with what looked like a hamstring injury and He was replaced by Terrence Mashego in the second half of the extra time.
“A little update about the injured player Thapelo Maseko. So, he has a muscle injury, Grade 3. So, the tournament is almost finished, but he stays with us. He doesn’t go to South Africa,” said Broos during Bafana’s press conference.
“And we don’t replace him. There are problems with the visa and flights. If we should replace him, the player will arrive on Thursday or, in the worst case, maybe Friday. So, we don’t want to do that, and we have the opportunity to solve the problem in the group. For that, Thapelo will not be replaced.”
Bafana Bafana will take on rivals Nigeria in the AFCON semis on Wednesday, 07 February 2024. Bafana qualified for the AFCON competition semi-finals for the first time since 2000.