South Africa Under-23s gain confidence from Algeria friendlies ahead of Madagascar qualifiers

South Africa’s Under-23 men’s team are in a stronger position for their 2028 Olympic Games qualifying campaign after drawing confidence from their two-match series against Algeria, assistant coach Karabo Mogudi says.

Amaglug-glug won the opening friendly 3-1 before drawing the second 1-1 at Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium on Sunday.

The matches formed part of South Africa’s preparation for the qualifiers for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. After Comoros withdrew from their first-round tie against Madagascar, South Africa will meet Madagascar in the second round between November 9 and 17.

The winner of that tie will face Cameroon for a place at the All Africa Games.

“The games have put us in a very good position to go and battle in the next qualifiers against Madagascar and hopefully go through that one and face Cameroon to get into the All Africa games,” Mogudi told the media after Sunday’s match.

He said the squad remained a work in progress, with several players still adapting to playing alongside one another at Under-23 level.

“But it’s a work in progress; this is sort of a new team because a lot of players are playing together for the first time,” Mogudi said.

“In a long time, they have known each other from other national teams. But from the U-23 perspective, there is the addition of new players, and they played like they knew each other for a long time.”

Mogudi, who took charge in the absence of coach Raymond Mdaka, was encouraged by the team’s understanding and the opportunity to test themselves against Algeria.

“We were happy with the chemistry. We were happy with the team-building process. We are happy that we got a very good preparation like Algeria,” he said.

The two fixtures also gave South Africa an opportunity to assess their ability to cope with a physically demanding opponent.

“I think that we can battle with the bigger boys on the physical aggression side; I think we battled with them quite well,” said Mogudi.

“We were able to withstand those physical duels. They are a tall side, but I think we managed a lot of high balls that came in and we didn’t come short.”

The assistant coach believes the squad’s depth will give Mdaka a difficult decision when he selects the final group for the qualifiers.

“It is a tough headache for coach Raymond because when he has to make final selections, I don’t want to be him,” Mogudi said.

He also praised the players’ progress at club level, with many making their mark in the PSL and earning international contracts.

“But look, these boys are a high-performing group and you can see by their rise in the PSL, a lot of them are securing international contracts,” he added.

“I think they will do well in the future. We believe in them, and they know that.”