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Safa is unlikely to honour the invitation for the national Under-23s to play at the Toulon Tournament in France next month.
Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble told City Press that he doubted the Premier Soccer League (PSL) would bend over backwards to convince clubs to release their players as had been done earlier to allow the national team to pick a full-strength squad to go to the qualifying tournament in Senegal late last year.
City Press has learnt that since the March deadline to confirm participation at the Toulon Tournament has passed, Senegal has been lined up as a likely replacement for South Africa.
Coach Owen Da Gama was hoping to use the nine-team age-group tournament as the team’s build-up to the Olympic Games in August. Tuesday will mark 100 days before the Rio Games.
South Africa are among the six sides that have qualified for the Olympics and been invited to the France tournament, which runs from May 18 to 29.
The other Rio-bound countries that will take part are defending Olympic champions Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Japan and Colombia, with hosts France England and the Czech Republic completing the strong line-up.
Said Mumble: “The league has been good to us, but looking at their schedule and matches involving relegation and the title [contest], it is highly unlikely that they can reorganise their fixtures. Unfortunately this is not a Fifa week. We don’t just want to take fringe players to the tournament, and it has to be players who are likely to go to the Olympics.”
The Toulon Tournament dates come at a crucial phase for the Absa Premiership and National First Division in the race for the championship and to avoid relegation. There is also the Nedbank Cup final to consider.
PSL general manager Derek Blanckensee said the league’s executive committee was the only body that could decide whether to accommodate any requests to suspend fixtures. However, the Under-23s were also facing an added challenge, as Safa will have pay the team’s way to France amid the federation’s ongoing financial constraints.
Mumble said they were still awaiting a response from the Lotteries Board regarding funding. But he added that the Olympic-bound teams would continue with their training camps locally.
“Our programme for Banyana is going ahead and we have just secured another friendly for them against a top team that is also going to the Olympics subject to the fact that we are not drawn in the same group.”
It is an open secret that playing a warm-up match against the US women’s team ranks high on Banyana coach Vera Pauw’s wish list.
The US have an open slot on July 9.
Banyana played two friendlies against Cameroon last week, which marked their first competitive matches in five months. They won the first game 2-0 and drew the second 2-2.
The two-legged matches against the Indomitable Lionesses propelled Banyana captain Janine van Wyk to a record 125 caps by any South African national team player.
This coming weekend, they will face Botswana away in the first leg of the second round of the Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Colombia this week completed the men’s Olympic football competition line-up after their 3-2 aggregate win over the US for South America’s final place in Rio.
The draw for the men’s and women’s tournaments will be conducted in Rio on April 14.
