BAFANA Bafana's preparations for Sunday's friendly against Ivory Coast were thrown into disarray yesterday after less than half of the squad called up pitched for training.

Coach Shakes Mashaba was forced to cancel a planned training at Milpark Stadium as only 11 players arrived for the session, hampering preparations for the friendly which has been sanctioned by Fifa.

On Tuesday, Mashaba called up 23 players, but Kaizer Chiefs made it clear they would not release Eric Mathoho and Brilliant Khuzwayo, citing a tight fixture schedule. Amakhosi were followed by Bidvest Wits in withdrawing Thulani Hlatshwayo and Jabulani Shongwe, but Mashaba was hit by further pull-outs as the players reported for camp yesterday.

Chippa United reported that David Zulu was injured in Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Free State Stars. Mashaba roped in Ajax Cape Town goalkeeper Brandon Peterson and defender Abubaker Mobara to replace Khuzwayo and Mathoho respectively.

Bafana take on the Elephants - who arrived with a locally-based squad on Wednesday - in the Nelson Mandela Challenge at Mbombela Stadium at 3pm.

But yesterday's chaos shows lack of cooperation from local clubs as Mashaba prepares for next year's Africa Cup of Nations. He wants to stage several friendlies in the run-up to the tournament in Equatorial Guinea - from January 17 - but as there are no more Fifa dates, he could face a similar challenge.