South Africa U23 coach Notoane could do with on-form Mailula against Congo-Brazzaville

South Africa under-23 coach David Notoane could do with the services of on-form striker Cassius Mailula for the second leg of their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Congo-Brazzaville on Monday. 

The under-23s played to a 1-1 draw with Congo-Brazzaville at Soweto's Dobsonville Stadium on Thursday, leaving themselves a mountain to climb to qualify for the 2023 African Cup of Nations (Afcon). 

Notoane and his young men must get an outright win or draw higher than 1-1 in hostile conditions at the Massamba-Debat Stadium in Brazzaville during the return leg to qualify for Afcon. 

Asked if he would request Mailula if Bafana do the business in their Afcon qualifier against Libya at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday, Notoane said this would be logistically complex.

“To be honest, that is not on my mind at the moment (requesting for Mailula) and logistically it comes with challenges,” he said after the draw with Congo-Brazzaville. 

Even if Mailula doesn’t join the under-23s in Congo, Notoane is confident the players he has selected will do the job. 

"Unless they say Cassius is available. But we have to give these guys who are here experience. We have a very talented group of players. We played against a team that has been together for a while and you can see it.  

“Some players have African Nations Championship (CHAN) experience. They probably have a lot more players with CHAN experience compared to the analysis we did on them.  

“Boitumelo Radiopane came in and did very well, but you could see a little bit of immaturity in the final third. Ashley Cupido showed aggression and these are the experiences they must pick up.

“The most important lesson now is when you are in this situation, which most of them are for the first time, how do you deal with it? We have to do whatever it takes to cross the line. 

“Bafana games are about this and sometimes it is a bad result when you draw at home, but when you go away, you knuckle down and get a result that is not expected.” 

Looking back at the match, Notoane said they had a lot to do in Congo. 

“The game came out the way one sort of expected. They are a team that sits and plays out with a long pass. I thought we started nicely, opened them up, but we were a little bit anxious in the final third by not finding the right pass to connect and take advantage of the openings. We had to settle the nerves. 

“Also important is that midway through the game we started playing a different game. We conceded a freak goal from giving the ball away and not defending properly on the wing.  

“Second half I told the boys to put the ball down and play, and don’t be scared of playing out with shot build-ups. Once we found that, we managed to open them ... and ... in the final third you could see we lacked rhythm and the right combinations. 

“But I think the game was down to decision-making. We scored a very good goal with Mduduzi Shabalala coming in and making an immediate impact. It was part of the game plan to try to inject more pace into our attack, whether we were leading or behind. 

“One will take the 1-1 scoreline, it is what we sort of mentally prepared for, and we have a big fight going into the second leg. I have told the players that we are a team that will always score a goal. 

“That gives me confidence that we can go and turn the tie around. We scored two goals in Togo and who says we can’t go to Congo and score two or three there?”