Mosimane confirms Sibisi injury ahead of Guinea qualifier

Bafana Bafana defender Nkosinathi Sibisi has been ruled out of South Africa’s opening 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Guinea after suffering an injury in training.

Head coach Pitso Mosimane confirmed the Orlando Pirates defender’s absence at a pre-match news conference at Orlando Stadium on the eve of Saturday afternoon’s Group D fixture against The Syli National.

Sibisi has not trained for the past two days after picking up a knock, leaving Bafana with another injury concern before their first qualifier.

“The camp has been good from day one, no destructions around the team, everyone has been there, focused, the whole team, the whole technical team. (However) the setback is Sibisi, he has got an injury and he has not been training the last two days, he got a knock at training,” Mosimane said in his opening remarks.

He added that the medical team had told him Sibisi would miss the match, but said injuries were an accepted part of professional football.

“Ja, we’re monitoring it, the doctor says he will miss this one but injuries are part of professional sport or football, hence we selected enough numbers because you don’t know what you will face,” Mosimane said.

The defender’s injury comes after Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Lebohang Maboe was withdrawn from the squad for the same reason. Maboe was replaced by Orlando Pirates midfielder Tshepang Moremi.

Mosimane said the decision to name a larger squad had helped Bafana deal with the setbacks without having to panic.

“Thank (goodness) we selected enough, I think you know Lebo (Maboe) is also out. Hence we had to select as much as we can so we can absorb or go through the hurdles without panicking. So that’s what we have. So far so good, the camp is good,” he added.

South Africa will begin their qualifying campaign against Guinea at Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon, before travelling to Egypt for their second Group D match.

Mosimane’s side are scheduled to face Eritrea on Wednesday evening at Al-Salam stadium.

The team will then complete its international programme with a friendly against Egypt on Sunday 4 October at Cairo International stadium.