South Africa international Phakamani Mahlambi has been ruled out of the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt after failing to recover from an ankle injury.
The Mamelodi Sundowns attacker got injured in Sunday’s Telkom Knockout Cup match against Chippa United and, after medical examinations, was ruled out of the tournament which starts on Friday.
Amaglug-glug’s coach David Notoane has confirmed the news in an interview with a section of South African media and revealed Phakamani’s replacement will be named as soon as possible.
“Phakamani got injured. I mentioned in Friday’s press conference that the biggest threat we have… even with the players that are coming late, what happens if they get injured because naturally, they should have been in camp two weeks ago,” said Notoane.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “So, we saw yesterday (Sunday) Phakamani went down injured. It’s the same injury that kept him out when we went to Zimbabwe. It’s the ankle injury. A replacement will be named shortly once everything is finalized from an administration point of view.” [/perfectpullquote]
The 22-year-old Phakamani was part of South Africa senior national team squad that played in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
He has won eight caps for South Africa, having first made his debut in 2017.
South Africa plays their first AFCON U-23 match against Zambia on 9 November at the Al Salam Stadium before they lock horns with Ivory Coast on 12 November and Nigeria on 15 November at the same venue.
