Stuart Baxter is bracing for more disruptions to his side and expects to lose as many as eight players when Bafana Bafana travel to Zambia for the return leg of an African Nations Championship qualifier on Saturday.
Bafana drew 2-2 with Chipolopolo at Buffalo City Stadium in East London at the weekend and Baxter expects his job to be even more difficult when his charges visit Zambia for the return leg.
Preparations for the first leg were plagued by numerous withdrawals and the Briton said more Premier Soccer League clubs would pull out players as they prepare for the PSL season.
“Tercious [Malepe] can’t play because he had a red card and Sbu [ Khumalo ] has an injury,” Baxter said.
“Its going to be mission impossible again, as it was [in East London]. So the players that are going to stay will do the job for us.
“They played well and they played disciplined.”
Baxter said the 2-2 score came “a little bit out of the blue” after his side were leading 2-0.
The away draw gave the Zambians a lot of confidence and head coach Wedson Nyirenda said they are now 90 minutes from qualifying for the championship.
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