{"id":43404,"date":"2026-08-21T15:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43404"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:10:30","slug":"bafana-bafana-to-start-afcon-qualifying-campaign-without-key-players","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/bafana-bafana-to-start-afcon-qualifying-campaign-without-key-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Bafana Bafana to start AFCON qualifying campaign without key players"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">South Africa\u2019s (SA)Bafana Bafana will start their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying campaign next month without some of their key players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">At least eight players could be unavailable for Bafana\u2019s opening match against Guinea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA will host Guinea on September 23, 2026, Mamelodi Sundowns right back Khuliso Mudau was the last Bafana Bafana to suffer an injury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Mudau has been ruled out of action for six months after suffering a serious Achilles injury against Marumo Gallants on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The 31-year old Mudau joins defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Teboho Mokoena, Thalente Mbatha, Evidence Makgopa and Bradley Cross on the sidelines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Mbokazi who has a severe thigh muscle tear will be out of action for the rest of this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Bafana Bafana open their account against Guinea on September 23, before playing Eritrea in an away match four days later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;SABC-<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37705,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-43404","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Bafana Bafana open their account against Guinea on September 23.","published_date":"","news_description":"Bafana Bafana open their account against Guinea on September 23.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43405,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43404\/revisions\/43405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}