South Africa squad finally set to fly to World Cup after ‘embarrassing’ visa delay | OneFootball

South Africa’s World Cup squad is now set to depart for the tournament on Monday, following a delay caused by unresolved travel visa issues, the national football body has confirmed.

The team had originally been scheduled to leave on Sunday for the United States before heading on to Mexico.

The Sports Minister, Gayton McKenzie, took to X to describe the visa "debacle" as an "embarrassing" administrative error on the part of team officials, demanding a report from the South African Football Association (SAFA).

While SAFA announced on Monday that all players have now secured their visas, four key staff members – an assistant coach, the team doctor, the head of security, and an analyst – are still awaiting theirs.

Gayton McKenzie described the delay as 'embarrassing' (AFP/Getty)

SAFA expressed hope that the remaining travel documents would be finalised in time for the quartet to join the charter flight from Johannesburg later today.

The association, which held an emergency meeting on Sunday night, apologised for the disruption and acknowledged receiving assistance from the South African Foreign Ministry and the US Consulate in Johannesburg to resolve the problems.

This incident follows previous scrutiny of the team's management during World Cup qualifying, when midfielder Teboho Mokoena played a match against Lesotho despite being suspended.

Although South Africa was subsequently stripped of its victory, the team ultimately qualified for the tournament by topping their group.

South Africa will participate in the World Cup for the first time since hosting the event in 2010. They are scheduled to face co-hosts Mexico in the opening game on 11 June in Mexico City, before playing the Czech Republic in Atlanta and South Korea in Monterrey, Mexico, as part of Group A.

Their match against Mexico will be a repeat of the opening game of the 2010 World Cup, which finished as a 1-1 draw.

South Africa went on to lose their next match 3-0 against Uruguay, before picking up a shock 2-1 victory over France in their final group match.

However, they still narrowly missed out on the knockout stages after finishing third in their group behind Uruguay and Mexico.

They will hope to go further this time around, with the squad now ready to depart for this summer’s tournament.