Pretoria - Supersport striker, Kermit Erasmus has been withdrawn from the Bafana Bafana squad to play Kenya in an international friendly match at Royal Bafokeng stadium tomorrow night due to injury.
Erasmus has been withdrawn from the squad due to a respiratory tract infection and was replaced by Ajax Cape Town striker Thembinkosi "Terror" Fanteni.
Fanteni is expected to join the team along with Belgium based Anele Ngcongca. The 23 players resumed with their training at the Royal Marang Hotel grounds in Rustenburg on Monday.
Bafana coach, Pitso Mosimane said: "I am sorry for Kermit, it is really unfortunate that he can't be with us on this camp as these the kind of matches where young players like him need to be introduced.
"We had really hoped that at the very least, he would be with us in camp even if he does not get to play, but I am happy on the other hand that Pienaar (Steven) seem to have recovered from the concussion that he had at his club last week.
"The midfielder is still being monitored by the team doctor and his presence at the camp shows his commitment to the course."
Mosimane also expressed his happiness as most of his players are getting more game time at their respective teams.
"The weekly report on players tells me that of the nine overseas-based players currently in camp, six of them played in the past week.
"That is a good but it can be better, I can't wait for the day when all the players get game time. When they play it makes our job a bit easier in the national team, for instance this week we have only two training sessions because it's a very short camp.
"An even greater plus for us is that Davide Somma scored twice this past week against Hull City and Coventry, and this augurs well for the national team.
"This is our first match of the year, and a very important one for us as it comes before the 2012 AFCON qualifier against Egypt next month whatever we do this week we must have Egypt in mind, so we can escalate our preparations when the time comes," he said.
Injured left back Tsepo Masilela is also staying at the same hotel with Bafana to continue a knee rehabilitation process under the watchful eye of team doctor Ephraim Nematswerani and the physical trainer Francesco Gonzalez.
Mosimane also took the time to wish Madiba well and also hoped the National Cricket team would do well in the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
"Madiba is an inspiration to all of us; he has been a big supporter of all the national teams so we can only wish him a speedy recovery.
"As for the Proteas, they have shown great support to us during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and we would like to say to them they must go out there and prove the critics wrong. They are a great side as we have seen recently in the five-match ODI series they won against India and we hope they can continue from there."
Bafana skipper, Aaron Mokoena has warned his team-mates and South Africans in general not to look at Kenya's 127th placing on the FIFA World Ranking list and underestimate them.
"Kenya is not as weak as many people think. Every country that faces South Africa just wants to do well and we have to guard against taking them lightly because they are lower than us on the world rankings list.
"We are using this match to get our rhythm back so that when we face Egypt we are ready for a good fight," he said.
Kick-off of the match is 8:35pm.
