Themba Zwane out for ‘months’ in crushing blow for Bafana, Sundowns

In a crushing blow for Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns, influential midfielder Themba Zwane is expected to be out of action for “months” with an Achilles injury. 

Zwane, who pulled the creative strings for Bafana in their 1-1 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Congo in Brazzaville on Tuesday night, was stretched off the field after 40 minutes. 

The attacker, who was also played a crucial role in South Africa's 5-0 thrashing on Diables Rouges in Gqeberha on Friday, was replaced by Patrick Maswanganyi at Stade Alphonse Massamba-Débat. Coach Hugo Broos said afterwards Zwane suffered an Achilles injury that may require four to six months to heal. 

“Themba is an important player for us, it was not a good thing for us that he had to go out with an injury. It is a big Achilles injury and he will be out for months,” Broos said after a draw that leaves Bafana on the verge of qualification for the next Nations Cup.

Broos said Bafana lacked fluidity and conviction in the second half because of Zwane's absence.

“When you lose such an important player it is difficult to dominate a game because he is someone who can keep the ball and he can make the last pass. He left the pitch and maybe that was the reason we didn’t play so well tonight [Tuesday].” 

Zwane will miss Bafana's final qualifiers against Uganda away and South Sudan at home next month and a major chunk of Sundowns' matches in the Betway Premiership, Champions League and Carling Knockout in coming months. 

After the draw with Congo, Bafana are in second spot in group K with eight points from four matches behind Uganda with 10, while Congo have four and South Sudan zero. Broos said his team's fate for qualifying for the tournament in Morocco next year is in their hands.

Bafana meet Uganda in Kampala on November 11 and Broos said they are targeting sealing qualification there.

“We are in the same situation [as Uganda] — we still need victory. If we win against Uganda or South Sudan we will qualify.” 

South Africa meet South Sudan at home on November 19.

Before Bafana's draw against Congo, Uganda had already taken three points from South Sudan with their 2-1 win away in Juba to go top of the group.

Broos said the South Africans did not focus on that result in their team talk. 

“I didn’t talk about the result of Uganda to the players because we had to focus on our game, where we knew it was not going to be simple.

“We also knew if we won against Congo we could have qualified but we didn’t win and that has complicated business a bit. The first leg was something else but Congo surprised us and we couldn’t find solutions to score more goals but we are happy with the draw.”