SA Under-23’s Olympics preparation tournament in Dubai cancelled

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) tournament, which the South African Under-23s were going to use as the preparation tournament for the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo, has been cancelled.

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SA Under-23 coach David Notoane had called a 25-man squad for the competition which was set to start on 5 June and run until 11 June.

The South Africans were set to meet up with the likes of Brazil, Korea and Argentina. But due to unknown reasons for now, the South African Football Association has confirmed that the tournament has been called off.

“The tournament has been called off, the SA Under-23 will now go to Egypt to play a two legged friendly games against the Egyptians,” said Safa’s junior national teams and Banyana Banyana media officer Sinethemba Mbatha.

As much as this might be a huge blow for Notoane, who was going to test his team against some of the best national teams in the globe, the Under-23’s were going to face challenges with some of the players Notoane called for the tournament not being able to honour the call-up especially in the DStv Premiership, which only ends the same date the competition was bound to start.

The likes of Bongani Sam at Orlando Pirates, Nkosinghipile Ngcobo at Kaizer Chiefs, Fagrie Lakay at Cape Town City to mention a few form integral parts of the squads in their respective teams.

Safa said they will send a press release regarding the postponement of the UAE tournament and give details on their trip to Egypt.