20 November 2019 – South Africa’s chances of qualifying for next year’s Tokyo Summer Olympic Games are not out as yet.

This is according to South Africa’s National Under-23 side coach David Notoane who expressed that he and his charges will prepare accordingly in a must-win match against Ghana, following their 3-0 defeat against Egypt in the U-23 AFCON semis.

That semi-final encounter, which to place at Cairo Stadium this past Tuesday (19 November), was South Africa’s first chance of booking their ticket to Tokyo.

They will now face Ghana on 22 November at Cairo Stadium at 16h30, where a win will guarantee them the final available spot of the three national teams, that are to represent Africa in next year’s world sporting event.

Egypt and Ivory Coast are the only two of the expected three national teams which secured their place to next year’s Olympics after reaching this year’s U-23 AFCON final.

“I would like to congratulate Egypt on booking their place into next year’s Summer Olympic Games,” Notoane said. “We hope to join them (in the top three) as we will now face Ghana for that final Olympic qualification spot.

“Coming into this match,” Notoane added. “We started off with Luther Singh playing as our striker because we wanted to break down their defence with penetrating speed up in the final third. My charges played really well, however, lacked a goal or two to complement their efforts in the first half. The penalty awarded in the 59th minute had an effect on my players from that point onwards. I have video footage of that incident and it is quite clear that it was not a penalty.”