Lyle Foster and Terrence Mashego leave Bafana Bafana camp

Mamelodi Sundowns' newly acquired star Terrence Mashego has been ruled out of Bafana Bafana's two friendly matches against Sierra Leone and Botswana due to injury.

Mashego arrived in camp on Monday with a strain and never trained with the team ahead of their games, both at FNB Stadium, against Sierra Leone on Saturday (3pm) and Botswana on Tuesday (3pm).

Team doctor Tshepo Molobi confirmed Mashego’s departure from the camp on Wednesday.

“Terrence sustained an injury prior to joining the Bafana camp and as standard procedure, he needed to present himself to the national team camp for assessment and investigations,” Dr Molobi said. “Based on those, a decision is then taken to keep or release the player from camp.

“Mashego did not train at all since arrival while we were awaiting radiological investigations to confirm our diagnostic suspicions. We have now secured radiology papers and a scan, which confirmed the left thigh injury.

“We had to release him from camp and hand him to the care of his club medical team who have been informed and will continue with treatment going forward.”

Foster, who scored his first Bafana goal against Morocco in June, suffered the same fate and was released from the camp on Tuesday. He was replaced by Ashley du Preez of Kaizer Chiefs.

“The case of Foster is similar to that of Mashego in respect of how they actually happened,” Molobi said.

“Lyle also got injured before camp and he also presented himself in camp and upon further clinical examinations, as is standard procedure with all the players, we needed to send him for a scan and it revealed that he was not going to continue with camp.

“What was important is that we did not want to exacerbate the injuries and we excluded them from training since their arrival. We were awaiting scans to confirm the actual extent and nature of the injuries.

“As with every single camp, we are bound to inherit niggles and injuries that players bring in. This is a contact sport and the bulk of the players played over the weekend., which was jampacked with Premier Soccer League action, and even the overseas-based players had match bruises.

“We are working around managing those but the moment the boys are looking good and we will take it one day at a time.”

The two friendly games serve as preparation for Bafana’s crucial home and away 2023 Africa Cup of Nations match against Liberia in March.

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