The fuel crisis which has hit South Africa in recent weeks seemed to afflict a powder-puff Amaglug-glug at Orlando Stadium on Sunday afternoon as South Africa’s under-23 team gained an embarrassing 1-1 draw with a Chinese team made up of under-19 players.
What is more, the youthful Chinese appeared to be robbed of a glorious goal from the adept Dah-lin in the 49th minute that would have made the score 2-0 a mere seconds after Amaglug-glug’s Innocent Mdledle had deflected the ball into his own net.
The explanation offered afterwards was that another of the other Chinese players had been in an off-side position — but clearly he was not interfering with play in any manner.
The Chinese, with an eye on preparing a team for their hosting of the 2008 Olympics, came to South Africa for an eight-nation, impromptu tournament with a team of teenagers and must have been well satisfied with their brave achievement.
After an abundance of missed chances, Amaglug-glug finally produced an equaliser from substitute Richard Raantjies in the 70th minute with a shot through a packed goalmouth of defenders.
But the chances squandered by Daine Klate and Gift Leremi, who were initially included in Ted Dumitru’s Bafana squad for the African Nations Cup, Boy Boy Masiya and Stanton Lewis had suggested that the South Africas’ scoring prowess had indeed dried up.
Not unexpectedly, the Chinese lost steam as the second-half progressed and were hanging on for a draw in the final 20 minutes.
But the South African under-23 team, who have a long way to go before qualifying for the next Olympics, demonstrated little, if any scoring prowess until the end. – Sapa