South Africa’s national Under 23 landed in Congo Brazzaville on Friday afternoon, albeit having to deal with the mystery of missing bags.
David Notoane’s charges played a 1-1 draw at home on Thursday in the AFCON Under 23 qualifier at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto.
The result means they must now labour for a win to proceed to the next round of the qualifiers.
SA UNDER 23s MISSING BAGS
But before they get onto the field, they have a lot to figure out with information reaching FARPost saying the team lost its bags.
The Under 23s left Johannesburg in the early hours of Thursday [3am] aboard an Air Rwanda flight. They stopped in Kigali, where they were scheduled to leave at 09am but only left at 10am.
The team arrived in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Brazzaville, at 12 midday. After two hours of the formal immigration procedures, they discovered 11 bags had gone missing.
Two players, who lost their luggage, confirmed to FARPost that the luggage was short upon arrival in the central African nation.
The bags have personal clothing, including soccer boots, an alternative playing kit and training equipment for the team.
ALTERNATIVE PLAYING KIT MISSING
“We’re told a total of 11 bags are missing. Luckily, for the rest of the players, the soccer boots are still there.
“The one bag has an alternative kit, and if Congo decide to use one that clashes with ours, we’ll have a challenge.
“I also lost my bag and a few other guys. I had to wear the same clothes I came wearing yesterday [Friday]. The toiletries are all in the missing bags,” the player told FARPost.
SAFA could possibly engage the South African Embassy in Brazaville to assist them in trying and getting the bags.
The airline could not be reached for comment as their phones rang continuously unanswered. According to the players, the airline has apologised and promised to return the missing bags to their rightful owners.
Last year in Togo, an official’s bag also went missing. Some African countries are known for playing mind games to unsettle visiting teams.
The Under 23s are scheduled to train at 5pm [SA time] at a venue provided by the hosting association on Saturday. They play Congo at 18h00 [SA time] on Monday.
RELATED STORY: Kaizer Chiefs duo included in SA U23 squad
