The forward missed the first training session on Thursday afternoon as he was nursing an ankle injury. He trained for only a few minutes on Friday morning but felt some discomfort, forcing him to watch the rest of training from the sidelines.
The player has been released from camp and is expected to travel home to Cape Town this evening.
“It is such a pity that he will not be with us owing to injury but he is a young man and should be fine,” Gordon Igesund says.
“I would have loved to work with him but his injury prevented us from doing so. He is a player for the future, hopefully some day he will return to the national team fold.”
Patosi sustained the ankle injury in his Lokeren’s last League match before heading to South Africa. He is expected to be out of action for three to four weeks.
“I am so disappointed that I will not be part of the Afcon 2013 tournament, I had such high hopes of playing for my country. But being called up for this training camp is in itself a great motivation and will make sure I work harder to return to the national team fold,” the player says.
“I really enjoyed my time here, with a great bunch of talented players, unfortunately the injury cut short my stay. I am proud to have come this far and can only wish the boys all the best in the tournament.”
He becomes the third player to drop out of the squad owing to injury, after striker Benni McCarthy and defender Mulomowandau Mathoho withdrew yesterday, while Thulani Serero is also a doubt.
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