Bafana Bafana’s crippling injury crisis begins to ease

Kamohelo Mokotjo was back in the Brentford match-day squad this week as Bafana Bafana’s crippling injury crisis begins to ease.

Mokotjo was among the substitutes in the 1-1 draw at West Brom in the English Championship having missed the vital African Nations Cup qualifier against Nigeria last month with an ankle problem.

He was sidelined for a little over a month in all‚ and was sorely missed by Brentford over that period.

The club have an astonishing 19 games before the Nations Cup qualifier away against Libya in March‚ which will be ample time for him to find his form again.

Keagan Dolly is also scheduled to return to the pitch this month after he has been missing since mid-September with a fractured leg.

The attacking midfielder was just starting to find form with French Ligue 1 side Montpellier when the injury occurred and missed Bafana’s last three qualifiers.

Midfielder Dean Furman has told TimesLIVE that he expects to be back in action well before the Libya game as well‚ though he will require further surgery to remove ther plate in his shoulder.

“I’m hoping for a return in January/February‚” Furman said.

“I’m seeing surgeon tomorrow [Thursday] to discuss it further.

“Unfortunately‚ a second op is required to remove the plate that is holding everything together currently. We have to decide when the best time is to do that.

“I should be flying by then hopefully [the Libya game] with six weeks of action in the tank.”

Midfielder Bongani Zungu is also hoping to be back in February‚ or early March at the latest after he has been out since September with a knee injury.

Sibusiso Vilakazi also said recently that he expected to be back from an Achilles injury sooner than expected‚ but the match with Libya could come too soon for him.