Ntuthuko Maphumulo soccer
The South African under-23 Amaglug-glug squad this week began preparing for the All Africa Games and the 2004 Olympics to be held in Athens.
They kicked off the Sasol Four Nations Cup with a 1-1 draw against Mozambique at the Orlando stadium in Soweto on Monday and followed that up with a 1-0 victory over Lesotho on Wednesday. Namibia is the fourth side in the tournament.
Against Mozambique the Amaglug-glug did not impress, with striker Gareth Devine missing a first-half opportunity when his penalty kick hit the upright.
The Mambas, as the Mozambicans are known, upped a gear after this let-off and this paid off when Martinho Mucuana scored to give his side the lead. Mozambique were always dangerous on the counter-attack and South African coach Shakes Mashaba was forced by the impatient crowd to take off Devine after the striker had made a number of mistakes.
In the second half Amaglug-glug returned with added energy and Siyabonga Siphika made up for earlier miss by scoring from the penalty spot to make it 1-1.
Team manager Barney Kujane said: “We are developing a team and people should be patient and give the boys a chance.”
In Monday’s second game Namibia played Lesotho to a goalless draw.
The Amaglug-glug again squandered a number of opportunities in their game against Lesotho and players were sometimes guilty of holding on to the ball too long. Albert Kometsi latched on to a pass from Darrel Smith in the first half to give South Africa the lead.
Lesotho returned in the second half fired up but they could not pass through the home defence.
Mozambique thrashed Namibia 2-0 earlier on Wednesday in a game that was controlled all the way by the Mambas. Amaglug-glug now face Namibia on Friday, while Mozambique take on Lesotho.
South Africa and Mozambique are leading the table with four points each and are likely to face each other in Sunday’s final There will also be a third and fourth place play-off game.
The Amaglug-glug team is in a rebuilding phase. Many of the players who represented South Africa at the Sydney Olympics last year are no longer eligible for the side as they are now older than 23.
The new team has been put together after a scouting spree around the country identified 150 promising youngsters, including those who could no longer qualify to play for Amajita (the under-20 squad). Of these, 20 have been chosen to play in the four-nations tournament.
Kujane said the team will continue its development and preparation for future tournaments by playing at least one international game each month.
n Eight teams have qualified for the Safa Castle regional league play-offs to be held at Zuka Baloyi stadium in Welkom next week. The play-offs will determine the inaugural 2000/2001 regional league national champions.
The regional league was launched in the 25 Safa regions with more than 400 grass-root clubs participating in the league. The winners from each Safa region will be promoted to the second division. The winners of this competition will get R10 000; the runners-up R6 000, and the third team R3 000.