The South African Football Association yesterday blamed their Central American hosts for their botched travel plans after Bafana Bafana were turned away at the OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday evening.

There were red faces all around after Bafana were told they needed transit visas to be allowed to fly via the US on their way to Costa Rica.

The national team was expected to board a flight to Atlanta at 5.30pm and then connect to Costa Rica, where they will play an international friendly on Thursday and another one against Honduras five days later.

But coach Shakes Mashaba's men only left Johannesburg yesterday morning and were forced to travel through Sao Paolo in Brazil to reach their destination, robbing them of at least a half a day in their preparation for the two matches.

''It's not our fault," Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble explained yesterday.

''The people who are hosting us made the booking and we were reliant on them to inform us on how they are going to make sure we get to where we need to be. All along we were fine, until Sunday night when we were informed we now have to take a different route. We needed visas because we were going to touch American soil, so the travel agent had to reroute the team, hence they only travelled the next morning."

Bafana departed without the Orlando Pirates trio of defender Thabo Matlaba, midfielder Mpho Makola and striker Thamsanqa Gabuza, who were involved in the club's CAF Confederation Cup triumph on Sunday night. The Buccaneers beat Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly 5-3 on aggregate to progress to their second continental final in two years.

''The Pirates players will join the rest of the squad later," said Safa communications director Dominic Chimhavi. ''This is not too much of an inconvenience and the team is expected to arrive in Costa Rica on Tuesday [this] morning."

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