Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has provided mixed updates on the injuries of two of the club’s Bafana Bafana players.
Ronwen Williams and Mothobi Mvala are both key to Bafana coach Hugo Broos’s plans ahead of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers that kick off next month. South Africa host Uganda on September 6, 2024 in their opening match of the 2025 campaign.
Thereafter, they play South Sudan away from home four days later. In naming his preliminary squad, Broos included Williams despite him missing Sundowns’ quarterfinal match against Polokwane City earlier this month. Mvala was omitted. Mngqithi has since given an indication on the progress of the Bafana duo ahead of the key encounters.
WHAT MNGQITHI SAID ABOUT RONWEN WILLIAMS AND MOTHOBI MVALA
He revealed that Williams was “very close” to returning to action. In fact, he hinted that the Bafana number one could feature in the second leg MTN8 encounter against Stellenbosch FC.
Williams will miss Wednesday’s first leg at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, but could be available on Sunday at Moses Mabhida Stadium. “Ronwen [Williams] is also very close. He’s now off the physios, he is now with our biokineticist,” he told journalists. “So when he’s there it’s just a matter of time before he comes for full training. We’re hoping that if God is with us in the second round of the semi-final, maybe he might be there.” On Mvala, he revealed that they were not rushing his return as his injury was “a little bit delicate on the knee”.
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“I think now he’s just started with the bios [biokineticist], he’s not even come back to full training because the injury was a little bit delicate on the knee,” Mngqithi said. “But we’re hopeful that once he starts with the bios, it’s already a sign that he’s going through. Maybe now, it’s just a matter of trying to strengthen and make sure that he’s as close as possible. But we’re not very concerned, we believe he will come back strong.”
Meanwhile, newly signed defender Keagan Johannes is also ruled out of the Stellies clash. Mngqithi explained that he was still recovering after surgery. “He came just after he had done an operation at SuperSport, but he’s very close. He’s beginning to train on the pitch now. We’re hoping that in the next few weeks, he will start competitive training.”