Notoane needs all hands on deck for Tokyo

IT won’t come on a silver platter for the South African Under-23 men’s team, but they will know that they cannot afford to fall at the first hurdle of the Tokyo Olympics like the teams of 2000 and 2016 did.

They were yesterday drawn in Group A for the Olympic football tournament alongside hosts Japan, Mexico and France.

The Japanese have qualified for the last six editions of the Games, with their best finish being semifinalists nine years ago.

Their disappointment of a fourthplace finish in London in 2016 was due to eventual winners Mexico, who have qualified on six occasions since 1992 despite being bundled out of the group stage at the last edition in Rio de Janeiro.

France are the underdogs in the group, behind South Africa, who will be making their third appearance at the global showpiece.

Since their last qualification, a lot has happened for South Africa, with Owen Da Gama, who suffered the same fate as his predecessor Shakes Mashaba after being bundled out of the group stage, replaced by the astute David Notoane.

The former reserve league winning coach was handed the reins a few months before the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in 2019 and Notoane proved himself to be something of a tactical genius, ensuring that his troops qualified for the continental showpiece.

In Egypt, the odds were stacked against them to finish in the top three and qualify for Tokyo given that a number of clubs refused to release players in time.

With the tournament falling outside the Fifa calendar, these clubs – including SuperSport United, who had the duo of Sipho Mbule and Teboho Mokoena – stressed the importance of having their players for domestic competitions later in the year.

Nonetheless, Notoane welcomed their availability, with Mokoena scoring a beautiful set-piece in the second game of the group stage – a goal which proved to be enough to award them three points as they marched on to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Egypt.

South Africa’s 6-5 penalty shootout win over Ghana in the third-place match, following a 2-2 draw after extra time, was enough to send them to Tokyo, alongside Egypt and Ivory Coast.

Notoane has already named his 40-man preliminary squad for the Olympics, with Bafana Bafana ace Percy Tau headlining the seven overage players before the squad is finalised after their final preparations in Dubai in June.

But while the incoming Bafana Bafana coach, who is set to be unveiled on Saturday, will be eager to have his key players for the two Fifa World Cup qualifiers in June, the SA Football Association have to ensure that Notoane gets all the players for Tokyo.