1 July 2021 – South Africa U23 Men’s National Team coach David Notoane has expressed his satisfaction with the team’s progress ahead of the final squad selection and departure for Tokyo for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games to take place from 22 July – 8 August 2021.
The team was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia for two international friendly matches against the host nation but the trip was cancelled due Covid-19 infection rate forcing Notoane to opt for a local camp as Plan B.
Twenty players went into camp at the SAFA National Technical Centre (Fun Valley) on Monday, 28 June 2021 where they went through a series of medical assessments before departure for Nelspruit in Mpumalanga where the team is currently based as part of final preparations before leaving for Tokyo.
Notoane’s charges are in their fourth day of the preparations in a bio-bubble in Nelspruit and players who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have now all been cleared.
“We are excited to have our preparations going and to have a few of our players who were in isolation join the team. We have a local friendly coming up and that will give us a good measure of the match conditioning and physical readiness,” said coach Notoane.
“So far we are getting everything on track. Slowly but surely,” concluded Notoane.
The South African U23 Men’s Olympic Squad has been submitted to SASCOC for preview and the announcement will be made live on SABC Sport on Saturday, 3 July 2021 at 15h00.