World Cup delegation held up as players await visa for Mexico, whom South Africa face in the opening game in 11 days.
The South African squad’s departure for the FIFA World Cup has been delayed due to a hold-up in the visas for Mexico, whom they face in the tournament’s opening game in 11 days, the South African Football Association (SAFA) has said.
Bafana Bafana, as South Africa’s national men’s football team is known, were scheduled to depart on a chartered flight from Johannesburg to Mexico City on Sunday morning, but remained grounded as visas for the cohost nation for some squad members were delayed.
“The South African senior men’s national team has experienced challenges regarding visas for some players and officials, and as a result the group could not travel to North America this morning as originally planned,” SAFA said in a media release.
Mexico will host South Africa in the World Cup’s opening game at the Estadio Azteca on June 11.
“SAFA is working around the clock to ensure that the team travels to Mexico City as soon as possible ahead of the opening match,” it said.
“We remain committed to ensuring that the team’s preparations for the tournament remain on track and, in the meantime, Bafana Bafana will continue to train in Johannesburg until departure.”
The squad was given a grand public sendoff in Johannesburg on Saturday before their first appearance in the tournament since hosting it in 2010, but the flight from OR Tambo airport to Mexico City was postponed.
SAFA said it had called an emergency committee meeting later on Sunday to discuss the issue following a vociferous condemnation from Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie, who termed it “embarrassing and grossly unfair”.
“We are being made to look like fools,” McKenzie said on social media platform X.
South Africa will warm up for the World Cup with a friendly against Jamaica on June 5. After taking on the cohosts in their opening group clash, they meet Czechia on June 18 and South Korea on June 24.
Hugo Broos announced his 26-man squad on Wednesday, which included two uncapped players.
Amid speculation about the visa bungle, several social media users questioned why the team paraded in Johannesburg before their departure if team officials were aware that players had not been issued visas yet.
South Africa are not the first team to run into a visa-related logistical issue at the World Cup.
Members of Iran’s World Cup squad have also not been issued visas for the United States, where they play their opening game against New Zealand on June 15 and two other group matches thereafter.
According to Iranian state media reports on Saturday, FIFA has informed the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) vice president Mahdi Mohammadnabi that administrative work is in progress and the visas will be issued this week.
FFIRI president Mehdi Taj said on Wednesday that he expected the US to issue multiple-entry visas for the World Cup delegation since the team will travel in and out of the country for their matches.
Iran relocated its team’s base camp from Arizona, US, to Mexico last week.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
