Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has confirmed that Thalente Mbatha and Jayden Adams have been ruled out of the two Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Congo. 

Bafana Bafana will face the Congolese in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, on Friday (19:00), before traveling to Congo to play the return match on Tuesday, 15 October. 

Broos explained that Mbatha was withdrawn after scans confirmed a knee injury on Monday morning following his team Orlando Pirates’ participation in the MTN8 final in Durban on Saturday.  

Adams, who also played in the same match, was withdrawn due to discipline. 

Mbatha and Adams will be replaced by Bathusi Aubaas and Sinoxolo Kwayiba. 

“I want to see the real South Africa against Congo, we did not see the real South Africa in our last two games (against Uganda and South Sudan).  

“I was not happy with the performance, but I was happy with the result (won 3-2 against South Sudan). I am a little bit less happy when I speak about the result against Uganda because I wanted to win that game,” he said. 

This will come as a huge blow for Broos as Mbatha scored twice in the September’s qualifying matches against Uganda and South Sudan respectively.  

He both came from the bench and helped Bafana snatched the point against Uganda at Orlando Stadium and a win against Sudan, with all those goals coming very late in the games.