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WATCH | South Africa U-23s ‘kicked off’ training session in Congo

South Africa Under-23 coach David Notoane speaks to the players in their U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying first leg match against Congo at Dobsonville Stadium on March 23 2023.
South Africa Under-23 coach David Notoane speaks to the players in their U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying first leg match against Congo at Dobsonville Stadium on March 23 2023.
Image: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images

The gamesmanship surrounding the South Africa Under-23 team playing a decisive U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Congo continued as David Notoane's team could not complete their training session after an altercation with their opponents on Sunday.

This was after the team only trained for 45 minutes in Brazzaville on Saturday after being denied access to the match venue.

Videos circulated on social media show Congo's U-23 team arriving in the middle of South Africa's training session on Sunday, resulting in a heated altercation as Notoane's team had to abandon the session after about 30 minutes.

TimesLIVE is informed that the gamesmanship started ahead of the first leg in South Africa where, on Wednesday, Congo allegedly refused to leave the pitch in their “match-day minus-one” training session at Dobsonville Stadium. This delayed the South Africans' training session there ahead of the 1-1 draw at the same venue the next day.

TimesLIVE is informed that on Sunday the SA U-23s' bus took longer than it should have getting to the ground for their match-day minus-one session at Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat in Brazzaville, the match venue for Monday's second leg (6pm SA time).

On arrival the official in charge of the stadium allegedly failed to open the gates to the venue for a period of time. Notoane's team consequently began their session late.

The Congolese then arrived about 30 minutes into the South Africans' session. Unprepared to wait, they began training on the same field resulting in an altercation.

South African officials protested that their late start was beyond their control, and that in Johannesburg Congo had been allowed to train late. 

As the South Africans continued to refuse to cut their session short the stadium official then allegedly turned off the lights, forcing their hand.

The South Africans' bus ride back to their hotel was then apparently considerably shorter than the trip to the training ground had been.

Notoane earlier said that on Saturday the South Africans were denied entry to the match venue to train, and were sent to an alternate ground that did not have lights, so only managed to train for 45 minutes.

Officials at the South African Football Association were not available for comment at the time of publishing.

The South Africa U-23s have their backs to the wall after their home draw in the third-round qualifier, the winners of which reach the U-23 Nations Cup in Morocco in June and July.

 


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