Notoane’s SA Under-23 to meet Congo in final round of Afcon qualifiers

South Africa Under-23 national men’s team have set up a meeting with Congo-Brazzaville in the last round of the Caf Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

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The South Africans booked their spot in the last round of the qualifiers after holding Togo to a goalless draw in the second leg played at Orlando Stadium last weekend, with the teams having played to a 2-2 draw in the first leg with goals by Antonio van Wyk and Ashley Cupido.

The young Bafana Bafana side coached by David Notoane went through to the next round of the competition thanks to the away goals rule.

Notoane believes his charges could have easily won the return leg after creating plenty of goal-scoring opportunities.

He is glad, however, that the team was able to go into the final round of the qualifiers, which was the important thing.

“The objective was reached as we managed to qualify for the next round and more importantly (we did) not concede any goals today;” Notoane told Safa.net.

“We dominated the match and had our chances, but our players are still inexperienced and this is something we will work on going forward.”

Meanwhile, Congo also made it this far in the qualifiers after finishing their two-legged tie 2-2 on aggregate against Tunisia – they also went through on the away goals rule.

The Congolese edged Tunisia 1-0 in the first leg at home, before losing 2-1 away from home.

With Congo-Brazzaville the last hurdle for Notoane’s team to qualify for the junior Afcon, the South Africa mentor will be hoping to assemble a very strong squad in order to finish the job especially having encountered unavailability of players in the first leg against Togo.

The match between the young Bafana and Congo will be played in March next year, but exact dates and venues are yet to be confirmed.