The South African U17 men’s national team saw their Africa Cup on Nations (Afcon) journey come to an end after being blown away 5-0 by Senegal during their quarter-final encounter at the Stade Nelson Mandela on Wednesday evening.
Both sides went into the game knowing that a victory would automatically book them a spot in the U17 Fifa World Cup, which will be staged in Peru later this year.
Amajimbos had a tough task at hand as they went up against a side that has a 100% record in the tournament and had not conceded a single goal in the tournament.
It was end-to-end stuff in the opening stages of the game, as both sides enjoyed a fair share of ball possession, with no clear-cut chances created.
The South Africans shot themselves on the foot when defender Waylon Renecke and captain Benjamin Wallis scored two own-goals in a space of three minutes.
The Senegalese added the third goal through Mamadou Sadio at the stroke of half time and go into the break with a comfortable 3-0 lead.
The SA defence was in tatters and the floods continued in the second half, with Amara Diouf getting his brace to send the South Africans packing.
Coach Duncan Crowie’s charges had a decent tournament in Algeria, as they were able to make it through to the knockout stages in a group that was regarded as the group of death. They lost two of their group stage matches against Morocco and Nigeria by fine margins.
Despite the shocking result between Burkina Faso defending champions Cameroon helping the South Africans secure qualification as one of the best number threes in the tournament, their victory against Zambia in the group stages proved to be vital in helping them go all the way to the quarterfinals.
With the reigning champs Cameroon out of the continental competition, new champions will be crowned, and Senegal will fancy their chances and hope to follow in the footsteps of the men’s senior national team and the U20 national team, that both won the 2021 and 2023 Afcon, respectively.
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