SA Under-23s to face Brazil in Olympics preparation tournament

The South African Football Association (Safa) has confirmed that the national Under-23 will be heading to Dubai in June, where they will participate in four teams tournament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

At the tournament, South Africa will take on Brazil, Korea and Argentina in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, which was rescheduled for 2021, in July.

SA Under-23 head coach David Notoane has called up 25 players for the competition, which included the likes of overseas based Lyle Foster, Liam Jordan, Luther Singh, Siyabonga Lingedza, Sphephelo Sithole, Kobamelo Kodisang, Gift Links, Khanya Leshabela, Thabo Cele, Luke le Roux and Tercious Malepe.

The rest of the squad is a mixture of locally based players who ply their trade in the DStv Premiership and the GladAfrica Championship.

The likes of Orlando Pirates Bongani Sam, Kaizer Chiefs Nkosinghipile Ngcobo and Mamelodi Sundowns trio of Ricardo Goss, Promise Mkhuma and Keletso Makgalwa are among some of the notable players in the squad.

In his fourth camp, Notoane says the main objective is to intergrate foreign based players and hopes that everyone will report for camp.

“The upcoming camp in Dubai is one that kick-starts our preparations for the Olympic Games. It is also aimed at integrating our foreign based players to see what they can bring into the group in terms of increasing the team quality and addressing key challenging positions,” said the Under-23 coach.

“We hope that we can get all the players that we require to integrate them during this vital preparation camp against Brazil, Korea and Argentina. It will also give us a good measure in terms of the level of our players’ state of preparedness for the Tokyo Olympics later in July.”

The tournament will start on 5 June and end on the 11th of June.