Mosimane defends selection of injured Sundowns duo Mokoena and Williams

Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has defended his move to include goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and midfielder Teboho Mokoena into his final squad to face Kenya.

Mosimane unveiled his final 27-man squad to take on Benni McCarthy’s Harambee Stars in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Johannesburg on November 13 and Nairobi four days later.

The inclusion of Williams and Mokoena was a surprise given they have been out in recent weeks due to injuries and are yet to return to action.

However, Mosimane says he cannot rule out such important players before the doctors tell him that they will not be available as he feels they could play a part in Sundowns’ CAF Super Cup against USM Alger of Algeria on Sunday.

Mosimane on picking Sundowns duo

“Those are key players for us who have been leading us to the first AFCON [in 2023], the second AFCON [2025] and [2026] World Cup and have been part of the games of Guinea and Eritrea,” Mosimane said on Thursday.

“They are very important players and we wait for the last, last time where the doctors must say to me; ‘coach we rule them out.’ Then we can bring in other players like we brought [Tshepang] Moremi last time.

“We have to give them the benefit of the doubt because we don’t know. What if they play on Saturday [Sunday] and I rule them out today? You will ask me why I have left Teboho and Ronwen.”

Mosimane hinted at having inside information over the state of the Sundowns duo as he remains confident that they will be available to face Kenya.

Will Mokoena and Williams be ready?

“Then I come to you and say they are injured but I have doctors to communicate,” he added.

“We have analysts to communicate and say where he is, how far and all that…then I don’t select him and then he comes and scores tomorrow. We have to be very careful with the national team.”

Mokoena suffered an injury in Sundowns’ CAF Champions League clash against Wiliete SC on October 18 and has been his club’s last four matches while Williams has sat out three games.

Both players were, however, spotted in training at Sundowns on Thursday, which points to a potential return to action on Sunday.