Percy Tau reports for Bafana Bafana camp as Ntseki calls up five more players

South Africa forward Percy Tau was one of the players to check-in for the national team camp early after he jetted in on Monday morning ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Ghana and Sudan.

Bafana Bafana are set to host Ghana on Thursday before wrapping up their Group C campaign away in Sudan three days later.

Following reports that Brighton & Hove Albion were not prepared to release Tau to travel to South Africa due to the United Kingdom Covid-19 restrictions, the player was however allowed to report for international duty.

“Good news for Bafana Bafana was the early arrival of star striker Percy Tau who plays in England for Brighton & Hove Albion. Tau jetted into the country on Monday morning and joined his teammates for some video analysis sessions,” announced Safa.

Before the encouraging news of Tau’s arrival, Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki had already made contingency plans in the event the player as well as others based overseas would fail to travel to South Africa.

Orlando Pirates forward Vincent Pule, Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Mothobi Mvala and Thabo Nodada of Cape Town City were called up as back up for Rangers FC star Bongani Zungu and France-based Keagan Dolly who have been doubtful for the camp.

Safa said “there were some issues regarding certain overseas-based players” and “they were busy negotiating with respective teams to make sure that all called up players are available for the upcoming games.”

Ntseki also added to his squad Sundowns’ Lebohang Maboe and Maritzburg United’s forward Thabiso Kutumela as replacements for the injured Bradley Grobler and Kermit Erasmus.

It is now the second successive occasion for Grobler to miss the Bafana camp after he also got injured ahead of back-to-back Afcon qualifiers against Sao Tome and Principe last November.

He has not featured in SuperSport United’s last two Premier Soccer League games after getting injured in the 1-0 league defeat away at AmaZulu on March 2.

Bafana are second in Group C with nine points, the same as leaders Ghana who beat them 2-0 in the reverse fixture.

Finishing second in this group will hand South Africa a ticket to the next Afcon edition to be staged in Cameroon in January 2022.