Under-23s given a bye for qualifier
Team sets sights on Tokyo 2020
The SA national Under-23 team have received a boost in their qualification hopes for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The SA team were meant to assemble next month to play the preliminary first round match to qualify for the 2019 Africa Under-23 Cup of Nations but have now received a bye. The tournament is contested for the right to play at the Olympics and will take place in November 2019 in Egypt.
South Africa are now expected to play their next match in March.
Safa spokesperson Dominic Shimhavi told Sowetan yesterday: “Our Under-23 have been given a bye. We don’t have any match until next year. All the top teams that have qualified for the Olympics have been given a bye. We will not be playing the first round.”
The Under-23 team have not played a match in more than two years since taking part in the 2016 Olympics.
When Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter named his squad on Monday to face the Seychelles on October 13, he said he will work with the team. SA Under-17 coach Molefi Ntseki has been earmarked to be in charge of the team, taking over from Owen da Gama who left last year.
In his announcement, Baxter injected some youth in Teboho Mokoena, 21, and Phakamani Mahlambi, 21, but it remains to be seen if they will feature.
Baxter felt it was time to give youngsters a chance. “There’s no formula to say you must have three or four youth players. I hope we get the balance right but we have to take a little bit of a risk,” he said. “This thing of taking our most experienced team to every match, we are not moving forward.
“I hope the experience these kids get will be the difference between us having a proper team we can be proud of in the coming years.”