Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic says those left out of the CAF Champions League squad set to face Light Stars FC will have a chance to prove themselves domestically.
Pirates are set to face the outfit from Seychelles in a CCL Preliminary Round first leg tie at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Kickoff is from 19:30 with the second leg scheduled for 4 December.
The Sea Robbers named a 27-man squad for the competition with Thabiso Kutumela, Diamond Thopola, Wayne Sandilands, Luvuyo Memela, Thabo Matlaba, Gladwin Shitolo, Augustine Mahlonoko and Lyle Foster all left out.
Nonetheless, despite the omission of Bafana Bafana internationals like Matlaba and Sandilands, Sredojevic insists they still have a role to play for the side.
He told reporters: “The 27 players [registered] are designated for the four matches prior to the group stages [preliminary and first round stages], so we have the highest degree of confidence and believe we have everything what it takes to reach the group stages.”
“Once we reach the group stages, we have a right to all the players we have not put on the list [they] have a chance in times ahead of us to (sic) the league, to the cup, to the training sessions and [with] overall work to convince us that they are the ones that we can later add to the team. It is not a closed chapter.”
The game marks a challenging sequence of seven matches in 25 days for Bucs in all competitions, although they are expected to easily dispatch the part-timers from the Seychelles.
Pirates’ run of games until 22 December:
- Wednesday: v Light Stars (home) – CCL
- Saturday: v Maritzburg (H) – league
- December 5: v Light Stars (away) – CCL
- December 8: v Baroka (neutral) – TKO final
- December 11: v FS Stars (A) – league
- December 15: v Volcan de Moroni or African Stars (H) – CCL
- December 22: v Volcan de Moroni or African Stars (A)
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