South Africa:       0

 Mauritius:            2 (Mitraille 44’; 67’)

 28 July 2017 – The South African U17 Men’s National Team (Amajimbos) has been knocked out of the 2017 COSAFA U17 Cup after a 2-0 loss in the semi-final to hosts Mauritius in Port Louis.

A brace by substitute Louis Mitraille in either half broke the hearts of the South Africans.

Amajimbos went into the halftime break trailing 1-0, after Mitraille opened the scoring in the 44th minute with an excellent shot to beat Constandino Christodoulou in the South African goals.

The second stanza started off much better as the young South Africans had a good chance early on to level matters, but Mauritius goalkeeper Jean Michel was determined not to concede.

In the 64th minute, Amajimbos head coach Molefi Ntseki brought on Alex Da Silva in search of goals, however it was the hosts who managed to find the back of the net three minutes later when Mitraille found himself unmarked to net his second of the day and give Mauritius a 2-0 lead.

Ntseki made his second substitution in the 72nd minute went Lungile Makambi replaced Olefile Ramatlo, while Boikanyo Segotlong took the place of Storm Jonas in the 84th minute, but the move yielded no results – it ended Mauritius 2, South Africa 0.

“Congratulations to Mauritius, they deserve the win. We still have a long way to go before reaching the objective we want. I believe we were more worried about winning the match rather than playing to our strengths. My players made mistakes, but it the kind that you expect from their age group, and I strongly believe they will learn from all this experience. I am confident the future for our team is very bright;” said Ntseki.

South Africa will now face Malawi in the 3rd/ 4th place play off on Sunday, 30 July 2017.

A few hours later in the final, the hosts will be up against Zambia who defeated Malawi 2-0 in the other semi-final earlier in the day.

This is how they lined up:

South African starting XI:

Constandino Christodoulou (GK); Bryn Deeley; Sizwe Ntanzi; Kieron Jacks (C); Barry Sithole; Cade Erickson; Storm Jonas (Segotlong 84’) ; Mohammed Shahabodien (Da Silva 64’); James McFarlene; Olifile Ramatlo (Makambi 72’); Junior Nare

Substitutions:

Thabang Maema; Omphile Moeletsi; Tshegofatso Mathibe; Joshua Momodu; Junior Khiba; Alex Da Silva; Lungile Makambi; Boikanyo Segotlong; Azola Tshobeni

Mauritian starting XI: Jean Michel (GK); Maison Rouge; Jean Gentil; Jean Francois; Caylan Wilson; Jean Aristide; Ludovic Milazar; Emilo Hyopolite; Louis Philibert; Andrew Aristide; Chiu Chung Fat

Substitutions: Jean Capricieux (GK); Yoan Dupre; Jeremy Kawoa; John Lan; Jean Cisimir; Louis Minerve; ; Kentiss Bhugeerathee; Jean Martin; Louis Mitraille

 

Match Officials:

 

Referee: Ceiso Armindo Alvacao (Mozambique)

 

Assistant Referee 1: James Fredrick Emile (Seychelles)

 

Assistant Referee 2: Jimmy Phiri (Zambia)

 

Fourth Official:  Baillache Jean Brandy Stevie (Mauritius)

 

Match Commissioner: James Mwenda (Malawi)