Europe-based pair doubtful for Bafana’s Afcon squad

Stuart Baxter’s plan to expedite FC Zurich right-back Joel Untersee and Crystal Palace centre-back Nikola Tavares’s inclusion into the Bafana Bafana squad in time for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)  have hit a brick wall.

Baxter said on Monday that they encountered numerous hurdles while attempting to include the two in the Egypt-bound Bafana squad and the duo still do not have the SA passports they need to play  in the continental showpiece, which starts on June 21.

The two players “for the moment are out of the question”, Baxter said during Bafana’s first training session in Johannesburg ahead of the tournament. ‘‘We believed their paperwork would go quicker than it has. So they are actually back in the loop but at the moment they are not in my thoughts [for the Nations Cup].”

Asked for the reason behind the delay‚ Baxter said: ‘‘Red tape‚ paperwork‚ bureaucracy‚ yeah‚ all of the above.”

Baxter named both players in his 30-man provisional Afcon squad a few days ago but conceded their failure to get passports has altered his plans.

The Briton had numerous conversations with the two players over the past few months and he was confident they would be part of the side after they expressed a keen desire to play for Bafana.

The 25-year-old Johannesburg-born Untersee is a Swiss youth international but is eligible to play for SA. The 20-year-old Tavares was born to Croatian parents in Cape Town and holds a passport for the European country.

Baxter revealed that most of the players he named in the provisional Nations Cup squad are in camp in Johannesburg. The group was boosted by the arrival of Lars Veldwijk on Monday.

The only concern is around Keagan Dolly’s fitness after he sustained another injury during training in Durban on Friday ahead of the shadow Bafana side’s clash against Botswana in the Cosafa Cup at the Princess Magogo Stadium at the weekend.

Dolly was scheduled to undergo scans on Monday on his groin after he tweaked it before joining SA under-23 coach David Notoane’s Cosafa Cup squad.

‘‘Dolly’s injury is a groin‚” Baxter said. ‘‘It’s serious enough for us to be concerned. It’s a groin that he tweaked a little bit before he came [to SA].

“But they managed it and he trained and he did okay. But he came down in the first training session and he felt it. So it has not got better and that’s a concern.

‘‘What we don’t want is to land in Egypt and suddenly it’s got a lot worse and we are missing a player. So we are going to deal with it now and we make a call on whether we can manage it or not.”