South African hopes hit by Parker's knee injury

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South Africa's hopes of beating Brazil in Thursday's Confederations Cup semifinals have been hit by a knee injury to striker Bernard Parker.

Parker, who scored both of South Africa's goals at the tournament, pulled out of Wednesday's training session at Rand Stadium and will have tests Thursday to see if he can play against the record five-time World Cup winners.

"He had a slight problem and we were advised by the team doctor that he shouldn't go on with the training session," South Africa coach Joel Santana said. "It would be better for the player to rest today and we'll do some tests today.

"He is a new talent and we would like to have him in our team tomorrow."

The Red Star Belgrade forward made his first mark in the tournament opener when he stopped a teammate from scoring a winning goal against Iraq by unluckily blocking a shot on the line, but he followed that by scoring both goals in a 2-0 win over New Zealand and has hit a tournament-high 10 shots on target.

With Brazil central defender Juan out of the rest of the tournament with a thigh problem, Parker is crucial to South Africa's hopes of springing a surprise on a team that has cruised so far with 10 goals scored and just three conceded.

Katlego Mashego could play in his place but the Orlando Pirates player struggled so far, straying offside a tournament-high six times in a total of 47 minutes as a substitute.

Little wonder that Santana wants Parker fit to play.

"I'm not the team doctor," Santana said. "So I've got to wait for the results."