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The impasse relating to the release of South African players to participate in Africa's final 2012 Olympic Games qualifying event remained largely unresolved.

The impasse relating to the release of South African players to participate in Africa's final 2012 Olympic Games qualifying event remained largely unresolved on Wednesday.

Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairman Irvin Khoza said the league had done everything within its power to assist Safa in selecting a strongest-possible Under-23 squad.

“Contrary to the unfounded allegation that problems existed because the PSL was pursuing an agenda against members of Safa, it was the PSL who approached Safa to come up with the best answers to this issue,” Khoza said.

South Africa are pitted in a powerful group for the qualifying tournament in Morocco, starting on November 26, along with the Ivory Coast, Egypt and Gabon.

Three African nations will qualify automatically for the Games in London, and a fourth could gain entry through a playoff with an Asian country.

Khoza revealed that, before the meeting between the league and Safa on October 26 – arranged at the instigation of the PSL –

Safa had not made any direct approaches to the league regarding the release of players for the Olympic qualifiers.

“The problem is that the Morocco tournament will be staged on dates not in the Fifa calendar for international fixtures –

meaning that PSL clubs cannot be forced to release their players,” Khoza said.

“Despite this, we negotiated an arrangement at the October 26 meeting, which all the clubs have accepted, to release one key player required by U-23 coach Shakes Mashaba for the Olympic Games qualifiers.

“We have also encouraged our clubs to be as helpful as possible in further releasing players as a gesture towards South African soccer's future welfare.

“Participating in the Olympic Games would be a major boost for the country's soccer and provide invaluable experience for players who would go on to represent Bafana Bafana.”

As part of the agreement, Khoza said the PSL players were to be made available to their clubs for fixtures on the weekend of November 19, before rejoining the U-23 squad as it prepared to depart for Morrocco.

“Much to our surprise, and contrary to the agreement with Safa, we heard that Safa now planned for the U-23 squad to go to Morocco straight after playing two warm-up games against Algeria, and the players would not be in South Africa for the agreed PSL fixtures.

“This is where we stand at this juncture, with Safa also springing the Algerian friendlies on us after informing us at the October 26 meeting that the friendly games would be against Senegal.”

Ironically, Mashaba could insist on selecting a strongest possible SA U-23 squad for the two friendly fixtures in Algeria in the coming week because they are due to be played on dates allocated by Fifa for international matches. – Sapa