Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has called up young Cape Town City forward Gift Links to replace the injured Sibusiso Vilakazi for the upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Bafana are set to face Seychelles in back-to-back qualifiers with the first match taking place at the FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon before Baxter’s men travel to the Island nation to compete in the reverse fixture on Tuesday.

It was confirmed that Mamelodi Sundowns forward Vilakazi ruptured his left Achilles tendon during a warm-up game against SuperSport United.

Bafana may have won the game 1-0, courtesy of a first-half Lebo Mothiba strike, but the injury to Vilakazi would have come as a blow after already losing both defender Thapelo Morena and wing Vincent Pule through injury at the start of the camp.

Baxter called up Cape Town City captain Thamsanqa Mkhize to replace Sundowns man Morena, while Thembinkosi Lorch replaced his Orlando Pirates teammate Pule before it was confirmed by Cape Town City that their young wing Gift Links had been called up as Vilakazi’s replacement.

“Yo Thabo, Thami hold up, I’m on the way!” 📞

Gift Links has been called up to represent Bafana Bafana 🇿🇦 against the Seychelles 🇸🇨 in the #2019AfconQualifiers #iamCityFC #InternationalWatch pic.twitter.com/AI6IvM7mVv

— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) October 10, 2018

The young forward has impressed for Benni McCarthy’s team this campaign after making the switch from Egyptian side Pyramids FC in the off-season.

Links played a starring role in City’s MTN8 triumph and will be hoping to carry that form into the national team.