Lions of Teranga roar back to overwhelm Amajita at Afcon

South Africa squandered a 2-0 lead by half-time to lose 4-3 to Senegal in their second Group B in game in Ndola of the Caf Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday night.

Goals from Liam Jordan within the first minute and Tercious Malepe in the 25th gave Amajita what they would have thought was a helathy lead. A poorly orgnaised defence though allowed Senegal to run rampant from the break, as they scored goals by Ibrahima Ndiaye (49th), Ousseynou Diagne (54th and 61st) and Krepin Diatta 70th.

Luther Singh pulled one back for SA in the 81st.

In the earlier Group B game Cameroon overpowered Sudan 4-1. South Africa, who beat Cameroon 3-1 in their opening game, will consider themselves favourites to beat Sudan in their final match in Lusaka on Sunday (3pm) to progress the the semifinals and qualify for the Fifa U-20 World Cup in May.

The match was a fine spectacle and advert for African youth football. The far bigger, more physically developed Senegalese were pitted against the smaller, quicker South Africans.

SA's attacking line-up of Jordan, Phakamani Mahlambi, Luther Singh and Sibongakonke Mbatha looked dangerous going forward in the first half.

Their defensive frailties were evident even then, as they opened up alarmingly on occasion. And as the defence disintegrated in the opening half-hour of the second half the attack had no platform to operate off.

Senegal took advantage of that fickleness to score four goals in the space of 25 minutes from the break.

South Africa opened the scoring withing the first minute through Jordan, with a clinical eight-metre header left free from a cross from left-back Notha Ngcobo.

Amajita, though, then lived dangerously in an opening 10 minutes when Sibongakonke Mbatha could almost have doubled the score, but Senegal's towering centre-forward Aliou Badji struck the woodwork.

But the South Africans took control and soon they had a second.

Malepe, pushing forward on a breakout started by a piece of skill by Mbatha, played himself into space in the middle via a one-two with Singh and expertly placed a low finish past goalkeeper Lamine Sarr for Amajita's second.

Still South Africa allowed gaps at the back, as twice Ibrahima Ndiaye struck straight at keeper Mondli Mpoto.

Senegal scored soon after the break to get themselves back into the game as Ndiaye's free-kick took a slight deflection and left Mpoto rooted to the spot.

SA's hard work earning a two-goal lead was squandered when big defensive midfielder Diagne got up to beat Mpoto from a corner and head in the equaliser.

Senegal had the momentum and utilised it to push for a another goal. With blocks coming in by the South Africans in their area from a Senegal attack, a half-cleared ball fell to Diagne, who struck a swerving drive into the top-right corner.

It got worse. Once Senegal had their tails up, they were hard to stop. Souleymane Aw's cross was headed back inside by Ibrahima Niane, Katlego Mohamme deflecting onto his own crossbar. Diatta headed in the rebound

Singh pulled one back from a superb individual effort. The hattrick hero from SA's 3-1 opening win against Cameroon beat Moussa Ba to go to the left goal-line - seemingly too far. The Sporting Braga forward somehow squeezed a powerful low shot past Sarr.

Substitute Teboho Mokoena struck the crossbar in injury time.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport