The South African Football Association yesterday excused three Orlando Pirates players from the gruelling trip to Costa Rica for Bafana Bafana's friendly in the town of Liberia.
Bafana meet 2014 World Cup quarter finalists Costa Rica at the 6000-seat Baltodano Briceno Stadium at 4am SA time tomorrow.
Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble said the Pirates trio of left-back Thabo Matlaba, midfielder Mpho Makola and striker Thamsanqa Gabuza have been excused from the Costa Rica game.
Mumble, however, was still awaiting confirmation from coach Shakes Mashaba on whether the three would be needed in the second match against Honduras on Tuesday.
The players were originally scheduled to leave yesterday for the tiny city of Liberia, population 60 000, in the northeast corner of Costa Rica, 70km from the Pacific Ocean
Pirates, however, questioned the fairness of asking their players to travel 12000km across seven time zones for Bafana's Central American tour a day after returning from the second leg of their 5-3 aggregate CAF Confederation Cup victory against Al Ahly on Sunday in Suez, Egypt.
Bafana are set to return just a day before Bucs' Telkom Knockout last-16 match against Pretoria University on October 16 .
Mumble originally said yesterday the Bucs trio would be excused from the trip. Later, however, he said he could not confirm the players would not travel for the second match.
"I only engaged Pirates about it this morning [yesterday]. We have decided to release those three players in fairness to Pirates," Mumble said.
"We looked at it, and they would be leaving today, and travelling back seven hours in time, so they wouldn't be able to play in the game against Costa Rica because of that. So they would only be available for the second game."
Bafana arrived in Liberia at 10am Costa Rican time on Tuesday morning, tired with travel fatigue. They did not train that day but did have a session yesterday, Safa communications director Dominic Chimhavi said.
He said Mashaba intended to play his strongest line-up against Costa Rica.
Bucs trio to miss Costa Rica game
The South African Football Association yesterday excused three Orlando Pirates players from the gruelling trip to Costa Rica for Bafana Bafana's friendly in the town of Liberia.
Bafana meet 2014 World Cup quarter finalists Costa Rica at the 6000-seat Baltodano Briceno Stadium at 4am SA time tomorrow.
Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble said the Pirates trio of left-back Thabo Matlaba, midfielder Mpho Makola and striker Thamsanqa Gabuza have been excused from the Costa Rica game.
Mumble, however, was still awaiting confirmation from coach Shakes Mashaba on whether the three would be needed in the second match against Honduras on Tuesday.
The players were originally scheduled to leave yesterday for the tiny city of Liberia, population 60 000, in the northeast corner of Costa Rica, 70km from the Pacific Ocean
Pirates, however, questioned the fairness of asking their players to travel 12000km across seven time zones for Bafana's Central American tour a day after returning from the second leg of their 5-3 aggregate CAF Confederation Cup victory against Al Ahly on Sunday in Suez, Egypt.
Bafana are set to return just a day before Bucs' Telkom Knockout last-16 match against Pretoria University on October 16 .
Mumble originally said yesterday the Bucs trio would be excused from the trip. Later, however, he said he could not confirm the players would not travel for the second match.
"I only engaged Pirates about it this morning [yesterday]. We have decided to release those three players in fairness to Pirates," Mumble said.
"We looked at it, and they would be leaving today, and travelling back seven hours in time, so they wouldn't be able to play in the game against Costa Rica because of that. So they would only be available for the second game."
Bafana arrived in Liberia at 10am Costa Rican time on Tuesday morning, tired with travel fatigue. They did not train that day but did have a session yesterday, Safa communications director Dominic Chimhavi said.
He said Mashaba intended to play his strongest line-up against Costa Rica.
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