Bafana Bafana of South Africa suffered a major setback ahead of Friday’s Group C 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe, as key player Relebohile Mofokeng was ruled out due to injury.

Hugo Broos, the head coach, revealed this during Monday’s press conference.

Broos has called up midfielder Mduduzi Shabalala to replace Mofokeng.

He said, “We replaced him with Shabalala.

“Second, there are two players who have not arrived because they played on Sunday, that’s (Lyle) Foster and (Sphephelo) Sithole.”

South Africa currently sit in second place in Group C after FIFA’s points deduction with 14 points.

They will take on Rwanda in their final qualifier next week.