Even after a bruising MTN8 final‚ where players limped around with cramp and looked out on their feet at the end‚ only Thabo Mnyamane misses out on SuperSport United’s weekend trip to Tunisia.

The cup final goal hero hurt his groin scoring the late equaliser in Durban on Saturday against Cape Town City‚ which took the game into extra time and eventually saw Eric Tinkler’s side take the trophy on post-match penalties.

Mnyamane has been booked off for a month by doctors with what officials said on Thursday was a groin strain.

The rest of the walking wounded‚ like Clayton Daniels‚ Bradley Grobler and Grant Kekana‚ have all been passed fit and departed with the squad on Thursday morning from OR Tambo Airport as they headed off for their Caf Confederation Cup semifinal‚ second leg tie against Club Africain at Stade Olympique de Rades on Sunday.

SuperSport drew the home leg in Atteridegville 1-1 and have their work cut out earning a favourable result in Tunisia.

The pitch at the Moses Mabhiba Stadium has been blamed by the SuperSport players for the extreme cramp some of them suffered in the MTN8 final. It was hard in patches and extremely soft underfoot elsewhere‚ exacting a heavy toll on the muscles.

SuperSport also had to play down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes of regulation time plus the added half-hour of extra time when Mnyamane went off. By that time Tinkler had already made three changes.

SuperSport are taking a different approach to the long distance travel and breaking up what would usually be a 17-hour trip to north Africa.

They will arrive in Dubai after a nine-hour trip on Thursday evening‚ sleep over and then fly the final five hours to Tunis on Friday.

It breaks up the tedium of the journey‚ keeps the players’ body clocks in rhythm‚ ensures a good night’s sleep.

Such an arrangement worked well for the team when they employed a similar travel plan on their way to Guinea when they drew away against Horoya FC to advance from the group stage in August.