SA Olympic dream still alive!

Coming from an entertaining weekend of the Telkom Knockout semi-finals that saw Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits booking their places in the finals to be played on the 10^th of December 2011 at the Moses Mabhida stadium by beating Golden Arrows 3-1 and Santos 3-0 respectively, as a patriot I was very uneasy with anticipation of how our SA Under 23 side will present themselves against Cote d’Ivoire in their opening qualifier on Sunday evening 27 November 2011 in Morocco.

The team build up to this qualifiers has been characterised by a lot of boardroom and administration drama, leading to most of the preferred players not being available for Shakes Mashaba’s call up. A goal by Phumelele Ace Bhengu on the 22^nd minute of the game brought me a sigh of relief in a game that ended one all draw, as by then I had noticed that our boys were there to give a good account of themselves and thus representing an Olympic dream of soccer loving people of SA with pride.

This team is oozing with confidence and that showed when they took charge of the game very early on, the same confidence I saw at times played against us as the boys held on to the ball for long, made wrong tackling decision one of them resulting in a penalty, delaying tactics that that lead to a second bookable offence for T Sangweni leaving a huge void in the centre of our midfield for most of the second half.  Having said all that the boys were determined to stand their ground even though it started to be difficult in the latter stages of the second stanza mainly because the Ivorians had most of the possession and we tried too hard to defend instead of making them play.

I drew a lot of positives from the game including the goalkeepers overall performance. Brilliant Khuzwayo brought the best of himself on the night that saw him saving a penalty only to be beaten  later in the game due to the pressure the team was absorbing at the time.

I am very proud as a South African to be represented by a team that understands the responsibility at hand and most of all with a lot of hunger to do well. This first game result was not ideal but good nonetheless as they can build upon it in search of victory on their remaining two matches.

The boys now go into their second game which is a must win against Gabon on Wednesday 30 November 2011 and all soccer loving South Africans support is what the team needs. The coach is also pleased with what he has seen of the boys and he believes they can win their next two encounters.

Here is a reminder of the Full squad doing duty in Morocco:

Goalkeepers: Brilliant Khuzwayo (Thanda Royal Zulu), Sage Lottering (Moroka Swallows), Brighton Mhlongo (Orlando Pirates)

Defenders: Sibusiso Mxoyana (Orlando Pirates), Mulomowandau Eric Mathoho (Bloemfontein Celtic), Thulani Hlatshwayo (Ajax Cape Town), Gladwin Shitolo (Jomo Cosmos), Mxolisi Mayongo (Amazulu), Sibusiso Zulu (Blackburn Rovers)

Midfielders: Thandani Ntshumayelo (SuperSport United), Christopher Flandorp (University of Pretoria), Bhongolwethu Jayiya (Bidvest Wits), Sameehg Doutie (Orlando Pirates), Mandla Masango (Kaizer Chiefs), Kulegani Madondo (Maritzburg United), Thamsanqa Sangweni (Amazulu), Jabulani Shongwe, Sibusiso Khumalo (both Mamelodi Sundowns)

Strikers: Phumelele 'Ace' Bhengu (Mpumalanga Black Aces), Ryan Eugene (Santos) and Rodney Ramagalela (Black Leopards)

NB. In the other fixture of the same group Egypt made sure they top the mini-log by registering a 1 – 0 win over Gabon.

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