Under-23 last hope for SA to shine on world stage

THERE has been very little for South Africa’s men’s national teams to celebrate this year in major competitions and coach Owen da Gama’s under-23s have the opportunity to end the year on a high for the nation.

While the under-17s did extremely well to reach the final of the junior championship in Niger, they were knocked out in the group stages at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Chile.

Bafana Bafana had a disappointing campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea in January, also getting knocked out in their group, before the under-20s suffered the same fate at the African Youth Championship in Senegal in March. Now the under-23s are just six days away from their opening match at the Caf Under-23 Championship in Senegal and there is hope that the strong 21-man squad that Da Gama has assembled will finish in the top three at the eightnation competition and qualify for next year’s Rio Olympics.

The under-23s open their campaign on Saturday with a Group A clash against hosts Senegal, who missed out on Olympic qualification in 2012 after finishing fourth in the same event.

“Senegal are the hosts, but we think this is an opportunity to capitalise on the fact that they are hosts,” Da Gama said. “There will be a lot of pressure on them, especially in the first match. We will try [to] keep as much possession as possible.”

Zambia will then follow for South Africa on the first day of next month.

“Zambia have five players in the senior team. They have a good team, but I don’t think they are where they should be. But we can’t take them lightly.”

Da Gama’s men will play Tunisia in their final group game three days later, a team they will know very well after playing against them in two friendly matches in September.

He said: “We beat them 4-1 in our first friendly and then they beat us in the second game.”

Group B is a stronger group, with two nations from the north and two from the west. Egypt, participants at London in 2012, will take on Algeria, while Mali and 1996 Olympic gold medalists Nigeria lock horns in the opening matches in seven days. Keagan Dolly

The Mamelodi Sundowns star will go into the competition in terrific form. Dolly has been the main man, creating and scoring goals for the side. Abbubaker Mobara

He plays as a central defender at Ajax Cape Town, but Da Gama prefers him in midfield, where he excelled previously under Muhsin Ertugral at the Urban Warriors. He is a good tackler and can pass very well. Gift Motupa

A player Da Gama cannot leave out of his lineup. Motupa can play anywhere in midfield and has an eye for goal. Siphelele Ntshangase

A ball wizard, he has gained a lot of international experience with both the under-23s and Bafana Bafana this year.