South Africa delays World Cup departure due to visa issues

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South Africa's World Cup squad will leave for the tournament on Monday after problems with travel visas delayed their departure, the national soccer body said. The South African team was due to depart Sunday to travel to the United States and then Mexico but had not secured visas for some players and backroom staff members, the sports minister said. Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie posted on X that the “debacle” over visas was caused by an administrative error by team officials and called it embarrassing.

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The South African national team has been forced to delay its departure for the World Cup in Mexico because of visa problems, the South African Football Association (SAFA) said on Sunday. "The South African senior men's national team has experienced challenges regarding Visas for some players and officials, and as a result the group could not travel to North America this morning as originally planned," the association said in a statement.

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The South African national team will make a delayed flight to the football World Cup later on Monday after all players have now received vias for Mexico. The team was originally due to travel on Sunday but the governing bvody SAFA said the departure had to be postponed due to "challenges regarding Visas for some players and officials.