Tokyo Olympics, here we come
Young SA hold their nerve in a pulsating penalty shootout
● Unbelievable! Absolutely brilliant!
That’s how the SA under-23 football team’s dramatic back-to-back qualification for the Olympics Games can be summed up.
David Notoane’s team did it with an agonising 6-5 penalty shootout win over Ghana at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt on Friday.
In a way, SA’s victory helped to sweetly and quickly avenge Bafana Bafana’s 2-0 defeat by the Black Stars in Cape Coast, Ghana, last Thursday.
“I’m happy for the boys,” was the Atteridgeville-born and former Santos striker Notoane’s first reaction after the match.
“It was a tough match, two teams fighting to go to Tokyo. We really pushed and we really wanted to get it today against a very tough opponent.
“Emotionally it was very, very draining and I can’t really express my feeling. But I’m very, very happy for the players for their achievement. Of course, it’s all about the players.”
SA will be among the 16 teams in Tokyo in a tournament to be played from July 23 to August 8 next year.
Africa Under-23 Cup of Nations winners Egypt and runners-up Ivory Coast will complete Africa’s representatives in the Games.
SA qualified for the 2000 and 2016 gigs, the major blot being that they bombed out in the first round of both those events. The worst was in Rio, Brazil, in 2016, when Owen da Gama’s charges finished at the bottom of their group having scored just one goal.
Notoane’s team’s challenge will also be to find goals in a country where the Springboks recently won the Rugby World Cup with their first black skipper, Siya Kolisi.
SA’s qualification for Tokyo was a topsyturvy affair from the word go, with Notoane notoriously denied a chance to start the tournament in Egypt with his full squad.
Notoane soldiered on with his troops, drawing the first match against Zambia 0-0 with a squad of no more than 12 in-field players to call on.
Tebogo Mokoena’s stupendous free-kick provided a winner against Ivory Coast in the second match and after being held 0-0 by Nigeria in the last group match, Notoane’s team was off to the ultimate decider against Ghana after losing 3-0 to Egypt in the semifinal.
SA dominated the match against Ghana where an own goal by Habib Mohammed and a Kamohelo Mahlatsi strike provided the country’s first goals in open play.
But even those two goals were not enough to take Notoane’s team to Tokyo as Ghana cancelled them out via ace striker Evans Mensah and Samuel Obeng to force a 2-2 stalemate that took the game into the lottery of penalties.
SA’s bid to make history was not to be denied, even in the 16 spot kicks, when SA goalkeeper Mondli Mpoto made the difference with two outstanding saves.
SA’s qualification for Tokyo will not only be music to Notoane, but Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki has already spoken of his keenness to blood some brilliant players that include the likes of Luther Singh, Mokoena, Lyle Foster, Grant Margeman and many others with potential.
“We know in the under-23s we’ve got Mokoena and we’ve got (Sipho) Mbule and Athenkosi Dlala. It is important for us now to look for such players.
“We also need to get somebody who will be helping Bradley Grobler up front,” said Ntseki after Bafana Bafana laboured to a 1-0 win over Sudan in Soweto last Sunday.
Olympic Games hosts Japan, Germany, Romania, Spain, France and New Zealand form part of the nine football teams, alongside the three African teams, who have booked their places for Tokyo.
The South American (two), North American (two) and three more Asian teams to add to the Japanese, will be confirmed in the new year, with the draw set for May or June.