Safa has since accepted the reasons cited by the Buccaneers why their players will not participate at the regional tournament
Orlando Pirates say a gruelling season balancing responsibilities between the domestic front and on the continent “loaded our players much” and as such, the Soweto club will not be releasing them for Cosafa Cup duty with Bafana Bafana, fearing they “remain at high risk” of injuries.
Attackers Vincent Pule and Tshegofatso Mabasa as well as left-back Bongani Sam were the Pirates players selected for the South African national team for the tournament which runs from July 6 and 18 in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“We take note that the dates of the call-up do not fall in any of the dates applicable to Caf-member federations in the Fifa international calendar,” Pirates wrote to Safa as per Sowetan Live.
“Our club participated in both the Caf Confederation Cup and a highly compacted PSL fixture list over the past eight months, mostly playing two to three fixtures every week,’’ said Pirates letter.
“This loaded our players much more than the recommended levels for professional footballers. In particular, the players that have been called up suffered a number of injuries during this period and remain at high risk.’’
Pirates’ stance also effectively rules Frank Mhango out of the Malawi squad as the striker struggled with injuries for the better part of the past season, while Deon Hotto will not be available for the Namibia squad.
Attacking midfielder Terrence Dzvukamanja is also out of the Zimbabwe team.
Safa says they respect Pirates’ decision.
“Yes, Pirates wrote a letter to the league to say they won’t be releasing players for the Cosafa Cup and we’ve accepted that,” Safa chief executive officer Tebogo Motlanthe told the same publication.
“With Cosafa, we’ve always given younger players a chance… normally it’s played by the Under-23s, so there’s nothing untoward about Pirates’ decision.
“The thing is that our U-23 team is busy preparing for the Olympics, so we couldn’t take them to Cosafa. Coach Mkhalele agreed with Pirates’ decision and the reasons they’ve given, so the players are withdrawn.’’
Helman Mkhalele, who will be the stand-in Bafana coach, will now hope that factors like positive Covid-19 tests will not hit his team like what happened ahead of June’s international friendly match against Uganda.
Already, Bafana are depleted and will do duty without three Kaizer Chiefs who had been selected by Mkhalele.
Goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma, Siyabonga Ngezana and Happy Mashiane will be preparing for the’ Caf Champions League final as Chiefs take on Al Ahly on July 17, the day before the Cosafa Cup ends.
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