By Mark Gleeson BBC Sport, Cape Town

Pienaar has struggled with injuries

Promising midfielder Steven Pienaar has again been forced to pull out of the South African squad by injury.

His withdrawal is another blow to coach Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba's plans for next year's Nations Cup finals.

It is the third successive time that Pienaar is unavailable for the national team as Bafana Bafana look to step up their preparations.

As part of their build-up for Tunisia 2004 South Africa will play against Egypt in Cairo on Saturday and Tunisia on 19 November.

The 21-year-old midfielder, a candidate for the young African Footballer of the Year award last year, is seen as pivotal to South Africa's Nations Cup cause.

But he has persistently been unavailable over the last two years, making just three appearances despite becoming a major star in Europe with his Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam.

He played only one of the qualifying games for Tunisia 2004 and although he went to the World Cup finals last year was also not used in the tournament in South Korea.