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Safa has been forced to downgrade the friendly matches against Ghana and Zambia to mere practice matches after three local clubs refused to release players for Bafana Bafana's three friendly games to be played within the next fortnight. Mamelodi Sundowns, Golden Arrows and Orlando Pirates have all advised Safa that they will not be releasing players � a dozen of them � attached to them who had initially been called up by Pitso Mosimane when he announced the squad before Christmas. After the friendly match against Equatorial Guinea on Thursday Bafana Bafana will lose all the six overseas based players in the squad as per the agreement which will leave Mosimane with an even weaker team to face Ghana and Zambia. "The first match against Equatorial Guinea is an official match. In so far as Zambia and Ghana games are concerned we have been in contact with our counter parts in both countries and the status of those matches is that they will not be official matches but rather practice matches," reveals Safa vice-president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana. "These two matches will be more about giving players an opportunity. We felt that under the circumstances we cannot have these games as official games because some of the players announced in our team will have to back to their overseas clubs after the match against Equatorial Guinea. "However, we are pleased that teams outside the country have been willing to assist while our teams inside the country felt it is not the time for them to release the players for reasons that they have conveyed to us. And since we want to be polite and nice to everybody we can only assume that their reasons are really genuine and not in any way trying to undermine our national agenda," says Nonkonyana. "Zambia and Ghana understand our situation which is why they have agreed for these matches to be practice matches which are not official games. Our CEO Dr. Robin Petersen has been in contact with both associations in that regard," he adds. Mosimane confirms that all the overseas players will leave straight after the game in Malabo after which they will then have to look for further reinforcements. "Our overseas based players will leave as soon as possible after the game in Equatorial Guinea because we have agreements with the teams overseas and they were lenient enough to give us players for this game that falls outside the Fifa calendar so we must also be gentleman enough and honour the agreement by taking the players back straight after the match. All overseas players will have to leave after the game in Malabo. "It has been a challenge because I don't have the players that I selected initially but I still have belief in this team because every player wants to play for Bafana Bafana. It is a blow but we are now used to it that when we play outside the Fifa calendar dates we are bound to face these challenges. As soldiers we go out to war to make the best out of the situation," says Mosimane.