With Patrick Maswanganyi ruled out with an injury, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has brought in a player who will be itching to make his senior national team debut.
Maswanganyi, affectionately known as 'Tito', is not available for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin, which is a big blow for the team, considering how well he did for Bafana in the latter stages of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
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Broos revealed that he is not happy that he only got to find out about Maswanganyi's injury yesterday, even though Pirates knew on Saturday that he would not be available for Sundowns' Betway Premiership clash against Mamelodi Sundowns, which the Buccaneers won 2-1 at FNB Stadium.
Coming in to replace the Orlando Pirates midfielder is Polokwane City midfield enforcer Ndamulelo Maphangule, who has been in good form for Rise and Shine this season.
Bafana arrived in Polokwane on Monday to start preparing for the clash against Lesotho, which will be played at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Friday. The national team currently sits in second place in Group C, level on points with leaders Rwanda, who have a clash against Nigeria coming up.
Maphangule has made 20 appearances in all competitions for Rise and Shine this season, contributing one goal. He offers a more robust option in midfield, compared to Maswanganyi, who is a creative source capable of opening up the opposition defence with tricks and flicks.
"There is one player who is not here. It's Aubrey Modiba, but he has to do something more important than being in a camp of the national team. His wife gives birth this afternoon, so that's why Aubrey is not there, but he will join us later in the evening. Those things are more important in life than a qualification game for the World Cup. Secondly, it's been a time of injuries and people who don't have passports. First of all, we have the injury of (Rushwin) Dortley, but we knew. We tried to replace by (Khulumani) Ndamane from Galaxy, but this guy did not have a passport. I think we did the right decision and took Thabo (Moloisane) to replace him. I am happy with him because Thabo made good performances with Stellenbosch and I think he deserves it. It's up to him now make us happy."
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"Second injury was Maswanganyi. I am a little bit angry because we only knew it yesterday evening. When I heard Maswanganyi was already injured on Saturday, so he could not play yesterday (against Sundowns). So that meant that we have to look for someone else, so first choice was (Sinoxolo) Kwayiba from Chippa, but he is also injured on the knee, so therefore we have Maphangule. He's got good performances with Polokwane, so he deserves to be with us for the camp and it's up to him to make us happy."
Bafana will be based at the Ranch Hotel in Polokwane this week, preparing for the crucial match.
