Orlando Pirates midfielder Patrick Maswanganyi has been withdrawn from the Bafana Bafana squad to do battle with Lesotho and Benin.
The 26-year-old playmaker missed the Buccaneers’ 2-1 win over Mamelodi Sundowns on Sunday. On Monday, it was reported that Maswanganyi sustained an injury during training a day before the Downs game.
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos said he was unaware that the Orlando Pirates star was injured.
“If my information is right, he was injured on Saturday already at training or something, I don’t know,” he said as per FARPost. “So everybody knew that Patrick was with the national team. I thought at that moment they would call and say look, ‘Maswanganyi is injured and can’t play tomorrow [Sunday]. He can’t be in the camp’.
“That gives us more time to look for another player. So this morning, with all the other problems, we had to call him [Rodney Maphangule], and we are lucky that he is staying here in Polokwane. Imagine if he was coming from Chippa or whatever. That we had to wait, that means he would only arrive tomorrow here [in Polokwane],” Broos added.
Bafana to play without Orlando Pirates playmaker
“So yeah, a little bit more occupied with the fact that your player can play, injured or not injured, just give the information. You don’t have to call me. Call the team doctor [Thulani Ngwenya] and say, ‘Look, there is a problem with Patrick. He is not ready for the camp, okay?’
“But then we have to wait and wait. Last night at 20:00, I received a call from the team saying Patrick was injured,” Broos said.
Bafana Bafana squad has four Orlando Pirates players after Tito was withdrawn.
Will Tito be missed?
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