South Africa’s Bafana Bafana have been dealt another massive setback after forward Iqraam Rayners withdrew from the team due to medical reasons.
Rayners, 29, who plays for Mamelodi Sundowns has been replaced by Evidence Makgopa.
“Iqraam Rayners has been withdrawn from the Bafana Bafana camp due to medical reasons. He was released back to his club this morning. Evidence Makgopa has been called up as his replacement,” SAFA said in a statement (via iol.co.za) on Tuesday morning.
Bafana Bafana are set to face Zimbabwe and Rwanda in their penultimate and final 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, in Durban and Mbombela, on Friday and next Tuesday respectively.
The South African senior men’s team need to win both matches convincingly if they are to finish top of Group C and automatically qualify for the global showpiece for the first time since 2002 — having qualified for the 2010 edition merely as hosts.
Head Coach Hugo Broos named a relatively strong 23-man squad for the two matches last week.
However, he’s had to deal with two major blows since the team assembled for camp on Monday in Roodepoort.
Relebohile Mofokeng was the first player to be withdrawn from the squad after sustaining an injury during Orlando Pirates’ 1-0 win over Siwelele FC.
He has since been replaced by his Kaizer Chiefs counterpart, Mduduzi Shabalala.
On Tuesday morning, news emerged from the camp that Rayners had also pulled out due to a medical issue and will be replaced by Makgopa.
(Complete Sports )
