Bafana Bafana team doctor Tshepo Molobi has cleared Mamelodi Sundowns defender, Mothobi Mvala, for travel to Ivory Coast for South Africa’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
Mvala had been nursing a groin injury, but has recovered enough to join with the squad. Whether he plays at the tournament remains in the balance.
“We did investigations which came back satisfactory,” said Molobi.
“We are quite hopeful and optimistic that we will get Mothobi ready to participate for our first game on Tuesday.
“He has gone to do laser treatment for the injury that he sustained. And, bare in mind that this was more precautionary than anything.
“We will continue treating him and come Friday, or Saturday, we will make a decision after our final fitness test.”
Duo Ronwen Williams and Themba Zwane did not participate in Bafana Bafana’s warm-up fixture against Lesotho in Pretoria this week. The match ended in a 0-0 draw.
“More or less a similar approach with Ronwen and Themba. We needed to manage their fatigue and their fitness levels, and as a result, the approach with them was to let us take as much precaution as possible to keep them as fresh as possible going into the tournament,” added Molobi.
“So, at the moment, there aren’t any big scares with regard to those two. We are quite confident that we will get them sorted before the start of the first game.”
Bafana Bafana’s AFCON campaign will start against Mali on Tuesday. Tunisia and Namibia are in the same group.
South Africa won the tournament in 1996 and will be looking to do better than their last showing in the tournament where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals.
