South Africa head coach Hugo Broos has confirmed that winger Thapelo Maseko has been ruled out of their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final calsh with Nigeria.
Bafana Bafana will be hoping to make it to the finals of the competition when they take on the Super Eagles today (Wednesday) at the Stade de la Paix in Bouaké.
The 20-year-old suffered a hamstring injury during extra-time of their quarter-final clash against Cape Verde on Saturday evening, and was immediately replaced despite himself coming on as a substitute during the second half of regulation time.
“A little update on the injured player Thapelo Maseko – he has a grade three muscle injury, so the tournament is over for him,” confirmed Broos.
“But he stays with us, so he doesn’t go back to South Africa [immediately], and we won’t replace him. There are too many issues with [getting] a visa, a flight, and if we were to replace him, would the player arrive when? Thursday, or worst case maybe Friday?
“So, we don’t want to do that, and we even have opportunities to solve that problem in the squad, so for that [reason] Thapelo will not be replaced, but the tournament for him is finished.”
By: Pascal Amoah
