SA Under-23 national team skipper Keegan Johannes is convinced they'll still book their ticket to the U-23 Afcon in Morocco, despite the deficit they suffered against Congo Brazzaville in the first leg of the qualifiers at home last Thursday.

Mzansi and Congo meet again in the second leg at Massemba-Débat Stadium in Brazzaville today (6pm SA time). The first leg at Dobsonville Stadium ended 1-all, meaning to qualify for Afcon SA needs to score more goals than the hosts tonight. 

“We would have liked to win at home, but it's not over. We believe in our talent and the guys are more than capable to go out there and win,'' the 21-year-old Johannes, who's a SuperSport United player, said.

The U-23 Afcon starts from June 24 to July 28. The top three teams at the eight-nation Afcon in Morocco will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, while the fourth-placed team will play the AFC–CAF playoffs to decide the final slot at the Olympics.

Johannes insisted that they don't view SA's pedigree of qualifying for The Games as pressure, but they draw motivation from it. Mzansi featured in the last two editions of the Olympics in Rio and Tokyo in 2016 and 2020 respectively.

“That the U-23 team is used to qualifying for the Olympics does not really put us, as the current group, under pressure but it is more of a motivation for us to know that we are working towards something,'' Johannes noted.

The SuperSport United right-back also opened up about initially being included in Bafana Bafana's preliminary squad for the back-to-back Afcon qualifiers against Liberia before failing to make the final cut and subsequently got a nod in the U-23 side.

“As a player, it's always good to be included in the preliminary squad, it shows that you are edging closer to making the final squad. At some point it has to give but obviously to be playing for the U-23s is not a step down because this is a very competitive level as well. It's not like the U-23 is amateur level,'' Johannes stated.