The South African Under-23 side made a poor start to their 2016 Olympic qualifying campaign on Saturday as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat to Senegal in Dakar.
Coach Owen da Gama’s charges were unable to deal with the robust and agile Senegalese, with a number of defensive errors leading to them conceding three goals in their Group A encounter at the Eight Nations African Olympic qualifying tournament in Dakar, Senegal.
The SA side got off to a bright start, though, with 18-year-old Wits speedster Phakamani Mahlambi – who was recently described as “better than Benni McCarthy at the same age” by his club coach Gavin Hunt – rattling the Senegalese defence with his exhilarating pace and skill.
Mahlambi won a number of free kicks around the penalty area, but the free kicks and corners delivered were of a poor quality and didn’t trouble the home side’s defence.
The South Africans paid for their missed opportunities as Senegalese forward Ismaila Sarr, who was a constant thorn in the visitors’ defence, went on a powerful run on the left-hand side of the box.
SA captain Kwame Mngonyama couldn’t keep up with Sarr’s pace and pulled him down and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot, and striker Ibrahima Keita slotted the ball past goalkeeper Stuart Goss to give Senegal a 1-0 lead after 16 minutes.
Disaster struck five minutes later for the South Africans as Keita and Samba Ndiaye combined brilliantly to unlock the defence after Ajax Cape Town midfield maestro Abbubaker Mobara uncharacteristically surrendered possession in front of the defence.
Ndiaye timed his pass to perfection to Keita as SA skipper Mngonyama was caught ball-watching, and Keita easily beat Goss to give Senegal a 2-0 lead.
Senegal dominated the match from that point, with Goss pulling off a number of excellent saves to keep the score down.
But the South Africans managed to pull a goal back as Mahlambi was finally rewarded for his scintillating runs down the right when he was fouled yet again, this time inside the Senegalese penalty area.
His Wits club teammate Phumlani Ntshangase stepped up and coolly beat Senegal goalkeeper and captain Pape Ndiaye, and the South Africans were right back in it at 2-1 down after 28 minutes.
But after that, it was the Senegalese who looked more threatening as they kept Goss and the South African defence busy as Keita, Ismaila Sarr and Samba Ndiaye got the better of Mobara, Rivaldo Coetzee and Mngonyama.
Apart from Mahlambi, the South African midfield hardly troubled the hosts on attack, with Keagan Dolly heavily marked and striker Siphelele Ntshangase not getting much of a service.
Being one goal down meant that Da Gama’s team were always in with a chance of getting an equaliser, though, but utilise the pace and trickery of Mahlambi and Dolly enough. They resorted to launching long balls downfield, which the physical Senegalese defence handled with ease.
The South Africans’ hopes were finally extinguished four minutes from time when Senegalese substitute Sidy Sarr lashed home a terrific shot from the edge of the box to seal victory for the hosts.
South Africa’s next match is against Zambia on Tuesday, which is followed by a clash against Tunisia on Friday, with victory required in both games to advance to the semi-finals.
The top three teams at the end of the tournament will qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@IndyCapeSport