Safa, PSL discuss league Xmas break for Bafana’s Afcon preps
The South African Football Association (Safa) is involved in last-minute discussions with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to have DStv Premiership fixtures end before Christmas.
As things stand, league matches will take place on December 31, meaning Bafana Bafana players will not have enough time to rest before they report for their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) camp on January 4.
Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao said after an NEC meeting at Safa House she will be speaking to the PSL today to get a response.
Bafana coach Hugo Broos has in the past spoken about the PSL scheduling matches until the end of the year and his players not having enough rest before Afcon.
“We have asked the PSL to look at the calendar because some teams are playing until December 30,” said Monyepao.
“We have reached out to the PSL requesting if it can’t look at it in line with the coach’s desire to finish the league on December 23 to allow for players to recover. We want to have a fresher squad when the team reports for camp. I have received correspondence from PSL acting CEO (Mato Madlala) to say she is engaging the executive committee, and they will revert to us once they have sat and considered the coach’s submission on the matter.”
Monyepao said she will be reaching out to the PSL to see if they can find a solution. “There was no deadline given but I have given myself until Monday to follow up with the PSL acting CEO just to gauge how far they are in terms of their discussions.
“The coach is on my case every day asking if there is a response from the PSL because he wants to know what will he be working with come January. He wants to know if he will be working with fatigued players or fresher players coming into camp.”
Monyepao said Bafana will have a training camp in Stellenbosch and a training match against Lesotho before going to Afcon. “With Bafana’s preparations for Afcon, there must be deadlines that must be met with regards to the players that will be participating in the Ivory Coast in January.
“The team will be camping from January 4 to 9 and they will be based in Stellenbosch for a training camp. We wanted to have it in either Potchefstroom or the High Performance Centre at University of Pretoria. But those venues were not available due to international bookings.
“After the training camp in Stellenbosch, the team will have a closed-door training match with Lesotho on January 10 and they fly out to the Ivory Coast the following day.”