Malepe opens up about Covid difficulties at Olympics

Dealing with the Covid-19 situation has been tough for players in the South African Under-23 squad in Tokyo, Japan, says captain Tercious Malepe ahead of the Tokyo Olympics starting next week.

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The South Africans were hit with three new cases in their squad, which includes two players Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi while technical team member Mario Masha also tested positive.

This has delayed preparations for the team’s first game of the Olympics against Japan on Thursday, 22 July at the Tokyo Stadium, with the squad having only had their first training session on Monday after landing in Tokyo last week.  

“To be honest it was not easy, especially for us as players when you hear such news. We came here knowing very well that we are living under difficult times of Covid-19. But we didn’t expect what we are expiring at the moment. But it’s a game football and as soccer players we know how to adjust. You can imagine spending three days in a room having to isolate, it was not easy,” said Malepe ahead of Thursday’s game against Olympics hosts Japan.

“But what I managed to do and the team – seeing that they responded well, (I told them) these are just some of the situations one can’t control. I always tell the boys that when you are in a situation you can’t control just follow the rules. Today (Monday) we managed to train, which is what we are looking forward to. We are here to play football and not to complain about anything. All we need to do is to put our minds on the job at hand and make sure we represent our country with pride.”

Malepe and company will have to push hard in the next two days to thoroughly prepare for the clash against the Olympics hosts.

The Olympics will be played without any spectators which might ease off the pressure from the South Africans, but the Japanese will surely be comfortable playing at home despite the lack of fans.