Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has told Kermit Erasmus to keep his chin up after axing him from his 23-man Afcon squad.
The Cape Town City striker was one of three players - alongside Ben Motshwari and Fortune Makaringe - cut from the training group on Sunday for the tournament in Egypt.
Baxter decided against the former Feyenoord forward, instead opting for Lebo Mothiba, Percy Tau, Lars Veldwijk, Lebogang Maboe and Sibusiso Vilakazi as his options up front.
Ahead of leaving for Dubai on Monday, the Brit explained: “I told the players that when we selected the provisional squad for the Afcon tournament, we hoped that they would see that as a massive boost for their future and careers.
Strikers: Lebo Mothiba (Strasbourg), Percy Tau (Royal Union Saint FC), Lars Veldwuk (Sparta), Lebogang Maboe (Sundowns), Sibusiso Vilakazi (Sundowns)
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) June 9, 2019
“I’ve just spoken to Kermit about 10 minutes ago and I told him that he’s got his career back with Cape Town City. Right up until the last day, he was within a good chance of making the list because he was very good.
“[But] I think that we are covered in those positions and I had to pick a couple of players that can make a double impact.”
SA will be hoping to sharpen up ahead of their Group D opener against Ivory Coast on June 24, having confirmed a warm-up games against Ghana this Saturday and Angola on the 19.
Baxter adds: “We would have liked one more games because there were some of the points that came out and of which we should address at training."