SA under-23 mentor David Notoane, who's been working on a freelance basis since replacing Owen Da Gama in 2019, has attributed their failure to qualify for the upcoming U23 Afcon to poor preparations.
Notoane's charges drew goalless against Congo Brazzaville in the second leg of the Afcon qualifiers on Monday away. SA lost the tie by virtue of away goal rules, having allowed Congo to score a goal in SA, in the first leg that ended 1-all at Dobsonville Stadium last Thursday.
The failure to beat Congo doesn't only mean Mzansi will not go to the U23 Afcon, to be staged in Morocco from June 24 to July 8 this year, but it also ended their dream to qualify for the Paris Olympics next year as the three top finishers in Morocco will represent Africa at The Games
SA never played even a single friendly match before embarking on the U23 Afcon qualifiers journey that started in the second round last October. Before playing the qualifiers, SA had last played against Egypt in June 2021 and it was a different generation of players. Notoane has chalked up their shortcomings to lack of proper preparations, also feeling hard done by with the chances they missed in Brazzaville.
“These are the dreams that we live for as coaches...to go to major tournaments. We were so close, yet so far. It's unfortunate that most of the time one had to deal with last-minute situations in putting the team together, despite efforts to formulate long-term strategy that would give the team a chance of good preparations to build a good team, so that when we come to these tournaments and qualifiers, we are better prepared,'' Notoane said.
“I am very, very disappointed on a personal level because I think the game was within our grasp to get a result. We had to make sure that defensively we were tight and we achieved that because we didn't concede but then we missed some very, very good chances. [Boitumelo] Radiopane had two 1v1 chances and then at the end Mduduzi [Shabalala] had a breakthrough on transition play on a platter to finish, unfortunately again it's all down to decision-making.''
Notoane blames lack of preparation after Afcon qualification failure
'We were so close, yet so far'
Image: Lefty Shivambu
SA under-23 mentor David Notoane, who's been working on a freelance basis since replacing Owen Da Gama in 2019, has attributed their failure to qualify for the upcoming U23 Afcon to poor preparations.
Notoane's charges drew goalless against Congo Brazzaville in the second leg of the Afcon qualifiers on Monday away. SA lost the tie by virtue of away goal rules, having allowed Congo to score a goal in SA, in the first leg that ended 1-all at Dobsonville Stadium last Thursday.
The failure to beat Congo doesn't only mean Mzansi will not go to the U23 Afcon, to be staged in Morocco from June 24 to July 8 this year, but it also ended their dream to qualify for the Paris Olympics next year as the three top finishers in Morocco will represent Africa at The Games
SA never played even a single friendly match before embarking on the U23 Afcon qualifiers journey that started in the second round last October. Before playing the qualifiers, SA had last played against Egypt in June 2021 and it was a different generation of players. Notoane has chalked up their shortcomings to lack of proper preparations, also feeling hard done by with the chances they missed in Brazzaville.
“These are the dreams that we live for as coaches...to go to major tournaments. We were so close, yet so far. It's unfortunate that most of the time one had to deal with last-minute situations in putting the team together, despite efforts to formulate long-term strategy that would give the team a chance of good preparations to build a good team, so that when we come to these tournaments and qualifiers, we are better prepared,'' Notoane said.
“I am very, very disappointed on a personal level because I think the game was within our grasp to get a result. We had to make sure that defensively we were tight and we achieved that because we didn't concede but then we missed some very, very good chances. [Boitumelo] Radiopane had two 1v1 chances and then at the end Mduduzi [Shabalala] had a breakthrough on transition play on a platter to finish, unfortunately again it's all down to decision-making.''
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