Plans for Kaizer Chiefs and Ajax Cape Town to bolster their teams with reinforcements for Saturday’s Telkom Cup Final in Durban with players from the Bafana Bafana training squad that returned from Brazil earlier in the week were on Tuesday delivered a hefty, if not knockout blow, by Premier Soccer League CEO Kjetil Siem.
The PSL CEO made it clear that an agreement with Safa that is “cast in stone” to assist South Africa’s Soccer World Cup preparation stipulates that players would not be made available to their clubs if it interferes with the requirements of Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
“This would not necessarily mean that the Chiefs and Ajax players who were in Brazil will be unavailable for the Telkom Cup Final,” said Siem. “But it will certainly mean that none of the players Parreira selects later this week for his forthcoming camp in Germany this month will be allowed to play in the Durban Final.”
And in the running , of course, to make the German camp are Siphiwe Tshabalala, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Itumeleng Khune (Chiefs) and Lance Davids and Thulani Serero (Ajax) — all of whom were in the Bafana squad in Brazil.
Some of these players may no longer be in Parreira’s plans for Germany and other Chiefs and Ajax players could come into the reckoning for a national call-up.
But, at this stage, an influx of reinforcements does not seem on the cards.
And, another viewpoint supporting this likelihood, is that it might be better for Chiefs and Ajax to stick with the players who helped them reach the final — rather than rely on players who have undergone a strenuous training programme in Brazil. — Sapa