South Africa Under-20 coach Helman Mkhalele has hailed the fight of his players coming back from 2-0 down against Madagascar to seal a place in Saturday’s final of the 2019 Cosafa Men’s Under-20 Championships.
Following the dramatic semifinal win, however, the former Bafana Bafana winger admitted his team would have to show more of the same character against hosts Zambia in the decider.
Defending champions South Africa looked dead and buried midway through the second period as they trailed a tough Madagascar. A superb brace from SuperSport United’s Oswin Appollis, including an injury time equaliser, took the game to penalties.
The side showed great composure in the shootout to seal the 5-4 victory and set up a meeting with Zambia, who breezed past Angola 3-0 in their semifinal.
“The way they showed character, their fighting spirit and a never-say-die attitude was amazing,” Mkhalele said.
“To come back from 2-0 down, on the verge of elimination. They demonstrated they are true champions. They want to make a name for themselves and write history for themselves.
“We assembled them as a new team in two weeks. For them to display this type of performance, I can’t find words to say ‘thank you’. I am really proud of them.”
Madagascar had frustrated South Africa with some stoic defending that did not allow the side to play their free-flowing attacking football.
But Mkhalele said he was pleased with how his side stuck to their guns and kept looking for a way back into the match.
“It was difficult based on the good tactical plan that Madagascar applied defensively. They sat back and absorbed the pressure,” he said.
“They saw how dangerous our team was [in SA’s 5-0 group win] against Lesotho. They planned a very good tactical plan defensively and made things very difficult for us.
“Our speed of play and movement was not as good as it can be. We started very slow, and Madagascar, with the players they have in terms of speed and aggression, took advantage of it.
“But the belief grew [after the first goal], and I started to see the speed of play and attacking with aggression and quality combinations to unsettle their defence. I never thought we would come back, but I knew anything could happen.
“When we scored the goal, I knew we would take it on penalties. Even if there had been extra time, we would have scored more goals. The fighting spirit and creativity was there.”
Zambia last won this title in 2016, while South Africa have had back-to-back successes in 2017 and 2018.
Saturday’s final at Lusaka’s Nkoloma Stadium is set to kick off at 3pm SA and Zambia time.
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