Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has given an injury update on left-back Aubrey Modiba who is close to rejoining the group.
Modiba picked up an injury in Mamelodi Sundowns’ CAF Champions League final first leg against ASFAR in Pretoria two weeks ago. He scored the goal that gave Sundowns advantage heading into the deciding leg, that they drew 1-1 with the Moroccan side to lift their second African title with a 2-1 aggregate score-line.
He missed the deciding leg of the tournament and Bafana’s international friendly with Nicaragua in Orlando last week.
Speaking at the OR Tambo International airport on Monday on the team’s departure for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Broos said Modiba’s return is imminent.
However, the coach won’t risk him in the side’s friendly against Jamaica before the opening match of the world Cup next week.
“I think Aubrey is very close to training with the group, [if] everything goes very well with him,” said Broos.
“So I expect him, maybe not for the game against Jamaica. We will not take any risk with him, but I’m pretty sure that he will be there for the opening game.”
Bafana are expected to play Jamaica when they land at their Pachuca base in Mexico in what will be their final warm-up encounter before the opening game of the tournament.
Broos would not be drawn into revealing whether the squad to play Jamaica may resemble anything close to the starting 11 against Mexico.
“I will not make declarations about that,” added the Belgian mentor.
“For me I have something in my head, and I will see also if we can use that for the first game against Mexico.”
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