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'I’m disappointed' - South Africa Under-23 coach Notoane frustrated as Safa fail to secure friendly matches
The retired striker confirmed that his side was scheduled to face Australia as part of their preparations for the Olympic Games
South African Under-23 head coach David Notoane has expressed his disappointment at the lack of international friendly matches during the current Fifa break.
The 52-year-old tactician and his charges are currently in a training camp as part of their preparation for this year's Olympic Games which will be staged in Japan starting in July.
A squad of 24 players made up of only locally-based players is in the camp after the South African Football Association (Safa) failed to secure international friendly games for the team.
According to Daily Sun, Japan, the USA and Australia, all wrote to Safa asking to play friendly matches against Notoane's side.
However, the matches reportedly never materialised due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Safa secured two friendlies against PSL clubs Golden Arrows and Maritzburg United.
“I’m disappointed and a bit frustrated because behind the scenes we were putting in a lot of work," Notoane said on Daily Sun on Saturday.
"We thought we could benefit from the Fifa Club World Cup in Qatar where we were scheduled to play against Australia.
“That could have given us an opportunity to see the foreign-based players come back into the fold but because of the [Covid-19] regulations that fell through."
Safa then tried to arrange a friendly match against 2019 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations champions, Egypt, but that also failed to materialise.
"Then we tried to get Egypt to host us and that also fell through," Notoane, who also serves as Mamelodi Sundowns reserve team head coach, continued.
"It left us with a bit of a challenge and we must be thankful to the KwaZulu Natal government for presenting us with this opportunity to stage our camp in Durban and put the team together.”
South Africa qualified for the Olympic Games after finishing third at the 2019 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations finals which was hosted by Egypt.
They defeated Ghana's Black Meteors 6-5 on penalties following a 2-2 draw in an entertaining match which took place at Cairo International Stadium.
The draw for the Olympic Games men's football tournament will be held on April 21 at the Fifa headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
