South Africa's travel to the World Cup postponed  .. Why?

South Africa's departure from the World Cup on Sunday was postponed due to some players not yet obtaining their visas.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation said the team was due to leave on a private jet for its training camp in the Mexican city of Pachuca, but this has been postponed indefinitely.

SAB officials did not respond to requests for comment, but Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie slammed the local federation in a post on the X platform.

"The travel and visa disaster caused by the South African Football Confederation is embarrassing and totally unfair to the players and the coaching staff.

"I have informed the federation that I need a report and action must be taken against those responsible for this mess. They make us look like idiots."

 South Africa opens  World Cup

South Africa will play in the World Cup opener against Mexico, one of the tournament's host nations, in Mexico City on June 11 and will be participating in the finals for the first time since hosting the tournament in 2010.

A managerial error in the qualifiers nearly cost them their place in the finals when their 2-0 win over Lesotho was cancelled out after Teboho Mkwena was disqualified due to a suspension due to a backlog of warnings.

However, they finished the qualifiers one point ahead of Nigeria and Benin in their group, and South Africa will also meet the Czech Republic on  June 18 in Atlanta and South Korea on June 24 in Monterrey.