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South Africa's World Cup charter flight will depart Monday, June 1 after a visa fiasco delayed the team by a day, grounding it in Johannesburg Sunday. They will be on their way to Mexico with all players and all but one assistant coach, but they did not escape before Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie lit into the country's football association on social media.
After the bungle that McKenzie said made them look like "fools," he announced via X that the team would travel a day later than scheduled.
"All players have received their visas. Still waiting on documentation are an assistant coach, the team doctor, the head of security and one analyst. The charter will leave Monday," Gayton posted Sunday afternoon.
The team was scheduled to board a charter flight from OR Tambo International Airport early Sunday morning, bound for Pachuca, the high-altitude city north of Mexico City where coach Hugo Broos had planned to base the squad.
The flight never left.
South African Football Association officials scrambled through the day to engage the U.S. embassy in Johannesburg, with hopes of getting the remaining visas cleared by Monday morning, according to South African state broadcaster SABC. The delay was attributed to an administrative error by SAFA.
That did not sit well with McKenzie.
“This SAFA travel and visa debacle is embarrassing and grossly unfair to players and coaching staff,” he posted on X. “I have informed SAFA that I need a report, and action must be taken against those responsible for this mess. We are being made to look like fools."
The timing made the whole thing worse.
The squad had been given a grand public sendoff at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg just the night before.
For Broos, the delay eats directly into a preparation window he had spent months carefully building. The 74-year-old Belgian, who has said this World Cup will be his last before retiring, specifically chose Pachuca as the team’s training base for it’s elevation of roughly 8,000 feet above seal level. He had said publicly that the squad would need at least 10 days to adjust before the June 11 opener against co-host Mexico at Estadio Azteca.
Players from Mamelodi Sundowns, who competed at the FIFA Club World Cup last year, were not affected. They already had the required U.S. travel documentation. It was other squad members who got caught up in the paperwork.
SAFA called an emergency committee meeting for Sunday evening and said an update would follow. In the meantime, the team continued training in Johannesburg.
After facing Mexico on June 11, South Africa then faces Czechia on June 18 in Atlanta and South Korea on June 24 in Monterrey. Before any of that, they have a warm-up friendly against Jamaica on Friday, June 6.
It is Bafana Bafana’s first World Cup since they hosted the tournament in 2010, and it wasn’t easy getting back. They had a 2-0 win over Lesotho overturned after a suspended midfielder, Teboho Mokoena, played in the match. South Africa survived the penalty, finishing a point ahead of Nigeria and Benin in their group.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: South Africa's World Cup visa fiasco leaves team looking 'like fools'
Continue reading...
After the bungle that McKenzie said made them look like "fools," he announced via X that the team would travel a day later than scheduled.
"All players have received their visas. Still waiting on documentation are an assistant coach, the team doctor, the head of security and one analyst. The charter will leave Monday," Gayton posted Sunday afternoon.
The team was scheduled to board a charter flight from OR Tambo International Airport early Sunday morning, bound for Pachuca, the high-altitude city north of Mexico City where coach Hugo Broos had planned to base the squad.
The flight never left.
South African Football Association officials scrambled through the day to engage the U.S. embassy in Johannesburg, with hopes of getting the remaining visas cleared by Monday morning, according to South African state broadcaster SABC. The delay was attributed to an administrative error by SAFA.
That did not sit well with McKenzie.
“This SAFA travel and visa debacle is embarrassing and grossly unfair to players and coaching staff,” he posted on X. “I have informed SAFA that I need a report, and action must be taken against those responsible for this mess. We are being made to look like fools."
The timing made the whole thing worse.
The squad had been given a grand public sendoff at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg just the night before.
For Broos, the delay eats directly into a preparation window he had spent months carefully building. The 74-year-old Belgian, who has said this World Cup will be his last before retiring, specifically chose Pachuca as the team’s training base for it’s elevation of roughly 8,000 feet above seal level. He had said publicly that the squad would need at least 10 days to adjust before the June 11 opener against co-host Mexico at Estadio Azteca.
Players from Mamelodi Sundowns, who competed at the FIFA Club World Cup last year, were not affected. They already had the required U.S. travel documentation. It was other squad members who got caught up in the paperwork.
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SAFA called an emergency committee meeting for Sunday evening and said an update would follow. In the meantime, the team continued training in Johannesburg.
After facing Mexico on June 11, South Africa then faces Czechia on June 18 in Atlanta and South Korea on June 24 in Monterrey. Before any of that, they have a warm-up friendly against Jamaica on Friday, June 6.
It is Bafana Bafana’s first World Cup since they hosted the tournament in 2010, and it wasn’t easy getting back. They had a 2-0 win over Lesotho overturned after a suspended midfielder, Teboho Mokoena, played in the match. South Africa survived the penalty, finishing a point ahead of Nigeria and Benin in their group.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: South Africa's World Cup visa fiasco leaves team looking 'like fools'
Continue reading...
