SA Under-23’s drawn in Group A for Olympics
The South African
Under-23 football side preparing for duty at the Olympic Games in Tokyo later
this year have been drawn in Group A alongside hosts Japan, Mexico and France
for the tournament that starts on 22 July.
It’s a difficult draw for the young South African side who are up against 2012 gold medallists Mexico as well as the host nation and France who are traditionally a strong outfit. The group means advancing as one of the top two is going to be difficult.
Team coach David Notoane understands the difficulty that his side will face in advancing into the knock-out phase of the competition but believes that he has a group of players that can produce good results.
“It is a hard draw but it is a good draw, especially if I look at the other groups,” Notoane said. “It’s a group that, with good preparation and good application, we can get out of and advance to the knock-out stage.
“I am very happy with how the draw came about and we are looking forward to getting to the Tokyo Stadium.
“Now that we know who we are going to be up against at the Games we can focus our preparation accordingly for that.”
Notoane has named a 40-player preliminary training squad from which he will select his final 22 players for the competition.
Amongst the players that have been selected are Bafana Bafana stars Percy Tau, Themba Zwane, Ronwen Williams and Mosa Lebusa along with three other players that are over the age of 23.
Amongst the other groups drawn defending gold medallists Brazil will have to get past sliver medallists Germany, Ivory Coast and Saudi Arabia in Group D.
Group C consists of Egypt, Spain, Argentina and Australia while Group B includes South Korea, New Zealand, Romania and Honduras.
