Sa Under-23s eye Olympics spot
The South Africans need a win against the host nation at the Cairo International Stadium to guarantee a spot in the Olympic Football Tournament in Tokyo next year.
David Notoane, coach of South Africa Under-23 team (Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
South African Under-23 goalkeeper Darren Johnson is targeting a spot at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, as David Notoane’s side take on Egypt tonight in the semifinals of the Caf Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
READ: SA Under-23 through to Afcon semis
The South Africans need a win against the host nation at the Cairo International Stadium to guarantee a spot in the Olympic Football Tournament in Tokyo next year. Even if South Africa lose, they will get another shot at making it to the Olympics in the third/fourth place play-off. The top three teams in Egypt will represent Africa in men’s football at the Olympics.
Johnson is yet to concede a goal going into this match, with Bafana ending up second in their group, following goalless draws with Zambia and Nigeria and a 1-0 win over the Ivory Coast.
“Our goal is to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games and a win in this tie guarantees us a ticket there. The technical staff has been working really hard in getting us ready for the upcoming match and we will do everything in our powers to win,” said the shot-stopper.
“Egypt have conceded three goals, so they must have few loopholes in their defence, going into the semifinals we are going to concentrate more on that as a team. We will try to attack them with all that we can.”
The 22-year old added that his back four have been impressive in the tournament and they are the reason why he is yet to let in any goals so far at the tournament.
“My defence in the tournament so far has been phenomenal, I don’t think I would have got my clean sheets without them, they have been protecting me throughout the group stages. I need to highlight that the back four that has been selected by the coach and if I can mention a few names – Tercious Malepe comes to mind, Keegan Johannes, Thendo Mukumela, Katlego Mohamme and Siyabonga Ngezana.
“It feels really great to be the only goalkeeper who has not conceded from the eight nations which featured in the two groups of this year’s Afcon. However, none of this would have been possible without the support of my teammates both in defence and attack,” he concluded.
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