Bafana Bafana head coach Pitso Mosimane has backed midfielder Bathusi Aubaas to come back stronger after picking up an injury against Eritrea.

South Africa cruised to a comfortable 5-0 hammering of Eritrea in their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations Group B qualifier.

Aubaas was named in the starting XI to replace the injured Teboho Mokoena, however, his time was cut short and lasted just 11 minutes before being forced off due to an injury.

The Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder will now miss South Africa’s international friendly against Egypt at the Cairo International Stadium in Cairo.

Aubaas was left in tears after breaking down again, but Mosimane has backed him to return stronger while admitting his absence leaves Bafana short of experienced options ahead of their friendly against Egypt.

“Well, Aubaas is an unfortunate player. I mean, Aubaas missed the World Cup because of an injury. Now, he was ready to come back to play, and again he broke down. Yeah, shame, man; he was crying in the dressing room,” said Mosimane.

“But we are there to support him and give him confidence. He’s a very good football player, and he lost his chance to play again because he missed the World Cup. He will soon be back. In the national team, we have patience for him.

“So, Teboho [Mokoena] is out with an injury, and Aubaas is also out with an injury. We are losing a lot of players in the midfield.

“However, this situation has given Brooklyn Poggenpoel a chance to play, and he performed very well. He played as if he has been playing all the time. We are now a little thin against Egypt in central midfield. So, we had to bring in Themba Zwane to play in the midfield because I wanted to take ‘Yaya’ [Sithole] out, as he’s the only experienced central midfielder we have left.

“We don’t have Teboho, we don’t have Thalente [Mbatha], we lost Jayden [Adams], and we don’t have Aubaas. So, it’s really a little bit unfortunate for us,” he concluded.