Shakes slams U23 team

For Shakes Mashaba, four goals for his Olympic side against a tired Libyan team was not enough.

The SA under-23 coach, who is expected to take his group of youngsters to their first Games since 2000, wanted more from his team.

South Africa faced a Libyan team that had endured a 25-hour journey to honour the Olympic qualifier fixture at Sinaba stadium in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni on Sunday - and which hadn't slept after arriving the night before the match.

Mashaba felt his team should have exploited their opponents' weakness and used the advantage of having had their star players available on Sunday.

The coach had the luxury of top Premier League players in Eric Matoho, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, George Maluleka, Bongani Ndulula, Mandla Masango, Darren Keet and Siyanda Xulu.

The match was played on a Fifa date, which meant Mashaba was even able to call up Dutch-based midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo.

But he couldn't pick Thulani Serero, Andile Jali, Kermit Erasmus and Daylon Claasen because they were involved in Bafana's Nations Cup qualifier against Egypt.

Instead, South Africa squandered a 4-0 lead by conceding two late goals, giving Libya the upper hand going into the second match in a fortnight, according to Mashaba.

His biggest worry is that their opponents will still very much have the same team that lost away from home, while South Africa could have a different group of players.

The return leg, scheduled for Libya on April 8 but likely to be played at a neutral venue because of conflict in that country, will not be on a Fifa date and the domestic league would have resumed.

PSL clubs are not obliged to release any of their players, especially with five league matches left and the Nedbank Cup in the last 16 phase.

Mashaba said South Africa was not strong enough to make it to London next year and that he feared the team would not go beyond the qualifying rounds.

Football at the Games is limited to under-23 teams, with only three overage players allowed.

Mashaba said the odds were stacked against SA reaching the next phase of qualification. His team needs to win to be one of 16 teams to reach the first round of Olympic qualifying, with the top three going to the London Games. Mashaba doubts his team will make it.

"We should have scored a record number of goals in the first half alone. But our players lack the match-winning mentality we need to conquer Africa, even our senior team [Bafana] struggled against Egypt despite the win," he said.

Mashaba, who was also coach of South Africa's last Olympic team (at the 2000 Sydney Games) said that all Libya needed to do in the second leg was win 2-0 - "and we are out".

Mashaba is also worried that he will not have most of the players from Sunday's match.

"I am afraid I will not have half the players," he said .

"I am not throwing in the towel, but ... it is going to be hard for us to qualify for the Olympics because we don't have the mental approach to the game."