Biggest Medical Challenge Ever: How Bafana Saved One Star but Lost Another to Injury

SAFA Chief Medical Officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya has revealed that Bafana Bafana's medical staff managed to overturn Aubrey Modiba's injury by the narrowest of margins, while Thapelo Morena was not as fortunate and ultimately missed out on the final World Cup squad.

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Morena was among the notable omissions alongside Brandon Petersen, Brooklyn Poggenpoel, Thabiso Monyane, Patrick Maswanganyi, and Lebohang Maboe when Hugo Broos announced his squad at the Union Buildings on Wednesday.

Speaking after the selection, Dr Ngwenya explained the medical challenges that influenced the final roster.

The SAFA medical chief described the situation as the biggest test of his career in sports medicine. Modiba had suffered a hamstring injury during the CAF Champions League first leg, but intensive treatment allowed him to make the cut.

"It was a challenge, a big challenge. It was the biggest test in the history of my medical career in sports medicine. This was the biggest, biggest, biggest challenge. You'd remember that we had Aubrey that pulled the hamstring during the CAF Champions League first leg. And the team went so hard and they managed to get Aubrey ready. He's now announced because we have cleared him to be part of the team going forward. The team is still going to work on him, but we are confident that come the 11th Aubrey will be ready," he told SABC Sport.

"The second one was Thapelo. Very very sad. We have tried. We have given it our best shot in terms of trying to manage him, in terms of giving him support. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to where we wanted to be. We did a risk and even today unfortunately it was not good."

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