Staff Reporter.
South Africa’s Under-17 national team had themselves to blame after they suffered an embarrassing 5-0 loss to Senegal which saw them bow out of the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations.
Duncan Crowie’s team conceded two own goals in quick succession. The first one was a result of a lack of urgency as Amajimbos were slow to react to Senegal’s attack.
Yaya Dieme flung the ball into the box from the right flank, but when Waylon Renecke attempted to clear the ball, he miscued his effort and it went into the back of his own net in the 36th minute.
Three minutes later, captain Benjamin Wallis had a moment to forget when he stood over a freekick on the edge of the box, which was parried by goalkeeper Gennaro Johnson. However, the danger was not cleared as it fell on the path of the skipper, who tried to clear but had to watch his attempted clearance crawling into the back of the net.
Senegal captain Mamadou Sadio got the third goal at the stroke of half-time, and again, Amajimbos’ defence were caught in sixes and sevens as they could not clear their lines, giving Mamadou ample time to take a shot from distance.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was called into action when Amara Diouf’s goal was suspected to have been offside, but after a few minutes of VAR check, the goal was legit. On the 70th minute mark, Diouf completed his brace to make the score-line more emphatic.
The semifinal berth earned Senegal a place in the Fifa World Cup.
SA qualified for the World Cup when they finished as runners up in this competition in 2015, when they were coached by Molefi Ntseki. This time Amajimbos had no chance against a Senegalese side which boasted players which were technically better.
Crowie’s side had qualified for the last eight as one of the third best finishing teams in their group after losing to Morocco (2-0) and Nigeria (3-2) in their group matches. SA’s 3-2 win against neighbours Zambia won them a place in quarterfinals.