South Africa Under-23’s Olympic Games dream ended on Wednesday when they lost 3-0 to Mexico in Japan.
Amagluglu, as South Africa Under-23 are affectionately called, had their backs to the wall going into this Group A match.
The coach David Notoane’s men had lost 1-0 to Japan then 4-3 to France to anchor the table before Wednesday’s contest.
And when play started at Sapporo Dome, everything followed Murphy Law.
The South Africans not only conceded goals but also had their captain Tercious Malepe dismissed.
Mexico opened the scoring in the 18th minute.
Alexis Vega arrived inside the box to slot the ball into the net following a cross from Uriel Antuna.
Some minutes later in the first-half, the Mexicans doubled their advantage.
Romo made the most of the opponents shambolic defending to score the second goal.
In the second-half, it was a matter of South Africa hanging in there.
Things got worse for South Africa as they lost captain Malepe to a red card following a review.
He was seen to have tackled harshly the opening goal scorer for Mexico, Vega, in the 55th minute.
Mexico finally killed the game off as a contest when Henry Martin scored past Ronwen Williams in South Africa following a delightful pass from Rodriguez in the 60th minute.
Rodriguez, too, followed Malepe in leaving the pitch after he received a red card for fouling South Africa striker Luther Singh.
At that stage, both teams played with 10 men each but Mexico still had the momentum.
In the end, the Mexicans finished on second place in the group behind Japan to sail through to the quarter-finals.
South Africa will return from the tournament without a single win. They scored three goals while conceding eight goals. All this points to defensive problems.
Starting line-ups:
South Africa: Ronwen Williams, Thendo Mukumela, Katlego Mohamme, Luke Fleurs, Tercious Malepe (c), Teboho Mokoena, Kobamelo Kodisang, Thabo Cele, Evidence Makgopa, Luther Singh, Kamohelo Mahlatsi.
Mexico: Ochoa, Angulo, Loroña, Montes, Sanchez, Romo, Antuna, Cordova, Rodriguez, Martin, Vega