South African U23 men’s national team assistant coach Karabo Mogudi says the two international friendly matches against Algeria were extremely important.
The two nations first met on Thursday and then faced off again on Sunday in matches that were played at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein. The South Africans won the first encounter 3-1 and then settled for a share of the spoils in a game that ended in a 1-1 stalemate on Sunday.
Both countries were using the matches as preparations for next month’s 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games qualifiers.
“This was an extremely important exercise for us. This is the first friendly international we’ve had of the U23s in years, and it pleases us that when SAFA got the call to say Algeria is interested in coming to South Africa, we said that they must come through.
“We thought it was going to be a good exercise for us, and it definitely was, a very competitive team, very competitive friendly exercise, and we are happy that they gave them competition, especially in the second game,” said Mogudi. The assistant coach was standing in for Raymond Mdaka, who is attending to a family bereavement.
“We need a few improvements here and there, but this exercise was a beautiful one for us as coaches. We were able to analyze where we went wrong, where to fix, where our weaknesses are and obviously reinforce where our strengths are.”
After a convincing victory in the first match, South Africa met a more aggressive Algeria on Sunday, something that pleased Mogudi who had made six changes to the starting line-up.
The home side took the lead through an own goal but conceded shortly thereafter in the first half.
“We made a number of changes in the line-up, and we did not struggle as much as we thought we would. I think we held firm, the technical structure of the team was intact and I was happy that we were very competitive throughout the game. You can see that Algeria brought a little bit of the physical element and aggression, and we did very well to manage that. I’m happy that also at a physical level we are able to withstand such because when you go into the continent proper for the qualifiers, that physicality will be needed,” added Mogudi.
“We missed a lot of chances to score, but it’s a work in progress. This is a new team, and a lot of them are playing together for the first time. We’re just happy with the chemistry, with the team-building process, and we are happy that we got a very good tactical preparatory adversary like Algeria and it will put us in a good position to go into battle in the next qualifiers.”
For the second successive match, the people of Bloemfontein came out in numbers in support of the team.
“There were instances where you could sense that they were also sensing that we were under a little bit of pressure and they encourage us, and the boys enjoyed their presence. We would like to see a lot of these when the national teams play and we say ‘thank you to the people of Bloemfontein for coming through and supporting these boys’, they really appreciate the support,” said Mogudi.
Following the withdrawal of Comoros in their Round 1 clash against Madagascar, South Africa will face the latter in Round 2 of the qualifiers between 9-17 November this year as the journey to the 2028 LA Olympic Games continue.
