South Africa coach Stuart Baxter has a number of headaches going into the crucial FIFA World Cup qualifier double-header against Cape Verde over the next week.
He has already seen a number of injury withdrawals, has players out of form, and some with no form at all having yet to kick a ball this season.
It is generally accepted that in a tough pool that also includes Senegal and Burkina Faso, Bafana Bafana must win both matches against the woefully out-of-form Cape Verde to stand a chance to reaching Russia next year.
They have started their campaign with an away draw in Burkina Faso and a controversial home win over Senegal, and are second in the pool behind the Burkinabe on goal-difference. If they can get a full haul of six points and Burkina Faso and Senegalese cancel each other out, it will be a major step forward for the national side in their World Cup finals quest.
But the build-up has not been smooth sailing for Baxter and the team, not least because of key withdrawals. The most damaging of these is veteran goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, who was hospitalised last week with an illness. He has since been released, but is not part of the squad for the two games.
Khune is comfortably the country's number one keeper and also comes with bags of experience. He has the happy knack of raising his game for big matches too, and was superb in the draw in Burkina Faso earlier in the campaign.
His absence will be keenly felt as arguably the country's number two gloveman, Darren Keet, has withdrawn from the squad as well through injury. He has a checkered national team past, but is a very fine keeper and would almost certainly have started in Khune's absence.
And so it is likely that third-choice Ronwen Williams will get the nod, a player whose nerves have got the better of him in Bafana action in the past and has yet to convince at national team level. Baxter could yet throw veteran Wayne Sandilands into the mix after his good start to the season at Orlando Pirates, with Reyaad Pieterse also in the mix, though his selection would be a surprise.
Another confirmed withdrawal is that of defender Rivaldo Coetzee after he was diagnosed with a foot problem while undergoing a medical to complete his transfer from Ajax Cape Town to Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Celtic. That move is now off and Coetzee is headed for surgery, though it is debatable whether he would have been involved in either match against Cape Verde.
Thulani Serero, who would likely have been a key figure, is battling with a hamstring injury according to his Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem. He missed their weekend clash with AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch league, but will travel to Praia to be assessed by the South African medical team.
"Where is the medical report? We still don't have one," an irritated Baxter told reporters before the team's departure on Tuesday. "Serero is an injury concern, but you hope when you call up players there is a willingness and desire to represent their national team.
"Vitesse sent us an email telling us he is injured, but when we asked if they had done an MRI they said, 'No, we just stretched him and he was uncomfortable'. Now, you can see there is a level of not wanting to cooperate there.
"I am not withdrawing a player without having seen a medical report, so we have asked Serero to meet us in Cape Verde and our medical team will assess him."If we need to replace him then we will call someone up for the Durban leg because we feel we have enough players to travel with for the first match."
Those are the injuries, but there are also other concerns for the coach. Striker Kermit Erasmus has not kicked a ball in anger since May, having been sidelined at French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennes. A decision will have to be made on his match sharpness.
Bongani Zungu has been relegated to the bench at Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes after a difficult start to the campaign, while Lebogang Manyama was also dropped by Cape Town City for their MTN8 semifinal on Sunday. That was explained as a reaction to the media hype around a potential transfer for him away from the club this week, but when he has featured this season he has looked below the standard he reached in the last campaign.
Dean Furman, Erick Mathoho and Tokelo Rantie have all already been sent off for their clubs this season; the first two for clumsy tackles that showed a rustiness in form from, and the latter for a swinging elbow this past weekend.
Andile Jali has lost all five of the league games he has played for KV Oostende this season, so his confidence has no doubt taken a knock, while Keagan Dolly has only made a single start for French side Montpellier after recovering from a knee injury and might be short of a gallop.
Such things are not that unusual at this early stage of the season, but whether the side can match the slick performance they showed in beating Nigeria 2-0 in an African Nations Cup qualifier in June, when they had match sharpness on their side, remains to be seen.