South Africa’s World Cup delegation departs for Mexico without coach

Bafana Bafana’s departure was delayed due to non-issuance of visas for several players and support staff.The South African national team members have left for their World Cup training base in Pachuca, Mexico, in advance of their opening game against the tournament cohosts on June 11.The delegation that left on Monday did not include assistant coach Helman Mkhalele, who has yet to obtain a United States visa.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Senegal deny World Cup travel delay is due to coach disputelist 2 of 4‘Brazilians of Europe’: How France created football’s deepest talent poollist 3 of 4World Cup contenders: Germany aim for redemption after successive fiascoslist 4 of 4Vinicius brings Maracana curtain-raiser to life as Brazil rout Panama 6-2end of listThe charter flight departed Johannesburg following a frantic 24 hours after the squad was originally scheduled to leave on Sunday, but was held back by a delay in obtaining visas in what was described as an administrative bungle by the South African Football Association (SAFA).Mkhalele, a former international winger who played 66 times for Bafana Bafana, including at their World Cup debut in France in 1998, will have to travel later after his visa application was initially denied.Blaming the US Consulate General in Johannesburg for the delay, SAFA president Danny Jordaan told the South African Broadcasting Corporation, “They refused the visa, but gave no reasons. It is very difficult to deal with the process where you get no information.”“We don’t know [why it was denied], we are clutching in the dark, but we hope the matter will be resolved [soon]. All of the players are [on the flight] and 99 percent of the technical staff.”South Africa are due to play Jamaica in a friendly on Friday before taking on Mexico in the showpiece opening match in Mexico City.“Now we are very happy that we can go to Mexico,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said. “The past days have been a little bit stressful with all the problems we had, but those problems are behind us now, and we can focus on what’s coming.”