Rivaldo Coetzee to miss Afcon after going AWOL

Coetzee was given permission to miss the start of Bafana Bafana’s Afcon camp, to go home to be with his critically ill mother.

The 22 year-old, however, has since disappeared from contact, and Baxter confirmed he is no longer available for selection. The Bafana Bafana head coach will name his final 23-man squad for the Afcon on Sunday.

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“Rivaldo called me the day we were assembling and said his mother was critically ill, and he didn’t think she would make it through the night,” said Baxter on Friday at Bafana training.

“He asked for permission to go (to her) and I said ‘of course you can go, but you will miss training, what have you been doing.’ I asked him how much training he had done in the last three weeks and he said nothing. I said ok, that is a challenge, but we gave him permission to go to his mother. We then heard nothing from him for three days, the team doctors tried to get in touch with him, and heard nothing, all I know now he is in the Northern Cape somewhere. He is unselectable.”

“I have got to be careful. If his mother is critically ill, I don’t want to make it sound (bad) … but we have not been able to contact him and if you want to play in the national team, at least be in touch with the coach to tell him you are not coming.”

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