South Africa’s football body says World Cup squad will depart on Monday after visa delays

Washington – South Africa world cup The team will head out for the game on Monday Travel visa issues The national football body said it had postponed its departure.

south africa game co-host mexico World Cup opening match on June 11 In Mexico City. it plays a group stage match in the u.s.

The South African team was due to depart on Sunday, but some players and backroom staff have not yet received US visas, the sports minister said.

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie posted on X that the “failure” over the visa issue was caused by an administrative error by team officials and called it embarrassing. He requested a report from the South African Football Association.

“We were made to look like fools,” McKenzie wrote on social media.

The association said on Monday it had obtained visas for all players, but four staff members still did not have visas. They are assistant coaches, team doctors, safety directors and analysts, McKenzie said.

The federation said it hoped their travel documents would be completed in time for them to board a charter flight in Johannesburg on Monday. An emergency meeting was said to have been held on Sunday night.

The federation apologized for the delay and said it had received help from South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg to resolve the issue.

South Africa’s management are under scrutiny in their World Cup qualifiers after midfielder Teboho Mokoena was suspended against Lesotho. south africa was deprived of victorythreatening its hopes of qualifying.

team Overcome this to qualify Ranked first in the group with one point.

South Africa will participate in the World Cup for the first time since hosting it in 2010, and their opponent will also be the Czech Republic. in atlanta and Korea In Monterrey, Mexico In Group A.

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