Da Gama admits there is still much work to do

SOUTH AFRICA Under-23 coach Owen da Gama is still basking in the glow of his squad’s qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The South Africans sealed their place at next year’s global sporting contest in Brazil by finishing third in the African U-23 Cup of Nations in Senegal. They will join Nigeria and Algeria in Rio.

While Da Gama acknowledged the role played by Safa, the PSL, his technical staff and the South African fans in the achievement of the U-23s, he is already focused on what he needs to fix ahead of the Olympics.

While the SA U-23s undoubtedly have a great squad of talented youngsters, there can also be no argument that they never played to their full potential. They were certainly fortunate to win that third-place play-off match against Senegal.

Da Gama admitted there was lots of hard work ahead.

“It is important to sit down as a collective and plan things thoroughly,” he said. “We need to present a formal plan to our leadership to say this is how we would like to prepare for the Olympics and take it from there.

“As for the tournament just completed, I think the turning point for us was after we lost to Senegal in the opening match. We had gone unbeaten for some time before the tournament and we had not met West African opposition. We lost, and that was our eye-opener. We checked what went wrong and thought about how we could rectify it.

“Players make mistakes, and coaches the same thing, but the important thing was to regroup after that. After we lost to Senegal we sat for two days in the boardroom analysing and trying to find a way forward – and we came back to win the next two games. We lost the the next one against Algeria, sat again and put in so much hard work, and reflected on our play. That resolve has been very important for us.”

While the Olympic football tournament is an U-23 event, teams are allowed to select three over-age players. This is another aspect that Da Gama will have to negotiate when the time comes.

“Right now, we just want to savour the moment we have achieved,” he said. “We need to go back and sit again with relevant stakeholders and discuss this aspect thoroughly and make a decision which we think is best for the country. The success that we are enjoying now is because of the collective, so I cannot stand here as an individual and make an announcement on that matter.

“There is one thing about us… we believe in the people that we select and encourage them up until the last minute. For example, it was the first time that Rivaldo Coetzee came to play for the U-23s (the 19-year-old has been a Bafana Bafana regular) and it took time for him to build a relationship with (central defender) Kwanda Mngonyama. We are aware of it and we will fix it (ahead of the Olympics).” – Rodney Reiners