The red card picked up by Chippa United's Tercious Malepe at the weekend could be seen as a blessing in disguise for the South African U23 team.
SA U23 coach David Notoane has struggled to gather all his players for the team's preparations as Absa Premiership clubs have refused to release their stars before the FIFA international break.
Will Malepe facing suspension as a result of the sending off in his side's loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Telkom Knockout quarter-final, the player is now able to join the U23s earlier than planned.
The team left on Monday for Egypt where they will participate in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations scheduled to be played from 8 – 22 November.
Read: Chippa Could Be Boosted For Chiefs!
Notoane left with only 12 players as the likes of Kaizer Chiefs duo of Siyabonga Ngezana and Happy Mashiane, as well as Sipho Mbule and Teboho Mokoena from SuperSport United remained with their teams.
