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Safa gives the teams green light to travel

Chiefs, Downs to play north Africans in neutral venues

SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe.
SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe.
Image: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images

The SA Football Association (Safa) has given Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns the green light to travel to Burkina Faso and Tanzania for their respective CAF Champions League matches on Sunday.

After the two teams could not travel to North Africa to fulfill their assignments in Morocco and Algeria due to the Covid-19 travelling restrictions in those countries, Safa moved swiftly to pave the way for the two big guns to be able to leave the country.

Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe sent out a communication to the two teams to inform them that they can travel this weekend.

Amakhosi will play their Group C encounter against Morocco's Wydad Casablanca this Sunday, while the Brazilians will play against Algerian club  CR Belouizdad in Tanzania on the same day. 

"Safa forwarded all its communication with CAF to Chiefs and Sundowns. Everything has been sorted and the two teams can now travel to the respective countries to fulfill their duties. They won't expect any traveling difficulties. If they have any problem they will contact us. It is up to them to go and play," Motlanthe told Sowetan yesterday.

Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena said they had prepared for their Algerian assignment which would have taken place today. But they would dust themselves and go again as it were circumstances that were beyond their control.

"When there is a change in the programme, it puts the spanner in the works. It affected our plans. It is not just one game, it's all about adapting to the cycle and we got thrown out of our preparations. Unfortunately, it is what it is. We have to adapt and give ourselves enough time to recover," said Mokoena.

"We have to make sure that we are prepared and ready to go again. We have time to refresh and prioritize the freshness in the team. There is a lot of uncertainty, but as the leaders in the team we have to calm down the players," added Mokoena.

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