SA Under 23 player details Congo ill-treatment 

An SA Under 23 player has detailed the ill-treatment they have received in Congo Brazzaville, as David Notoane’s charges are set to face the West African side on their own turf.

Some ugly tussle broke out between South Africa and Congo players during their last training session on Sunday ahead of the second leg of the CAF U23 Olympic qualifiers.

Notoane’s boys played out to a 1-1 draw with Congo in the first leg of the qualifiers at Dobsonville Stadium last Thursday.

The Congolese outfit were the first to break the deadlock in the 43rd minute of the showdown, courtesy of Love Bissila Mabiala. 

But the unfazed South African side pulled one back through Thapelo Maseko in the 69th minute of the contest. 

South Africa are scheduled to take on the West African side in the second leg today at Massamba-Debat Stadium this evening [18:00].

The player reckons that the bus which they were travelling with to the stadium drove around, wasting 20 minutes of their training session. Surprisingly, when returning to the hotel, it literally took them three minutes.

Normally, a team is given an hour to train at the main stadium. But the Congolese side came in after 30 minutes and demanded that South Africa leave the field.

The SA Under 23s started protesting on the spot. They explained that the driver is the one who wasted their time on their way to the stadium and requested to be given more time to practice.

FIGHT BREAKS OUT IN TRAINING SESSION 

In a short video clip posted on social media, the hosts are seen disrupting SA U23s while they were training. 

It would seem this was part of the mind games by the hosts ahead of the crucial encounter. South Africa arrived in Congo mid-morning on Friday, 24 March 2023. 

Signs were there that something of this nature [fight] would happen before the game. Notoane’s charges had to use an alternative stadium for their training season on Saturday, which was below standard. But they managed to have 45 minutes of training there. 

This came after they couldn’t access the main stadium. The host nation cited that, as per the rules, the team is allowed to enter the stadium two days before the game.

‘THEY KICKED OUR BALLS OUT’

“Yes [they fought us], will see what will be a trick used today. Yesterday, we had a challenge when going for training in a matching venue, where it is only three minutes. But we travelled 20 minutes with another route,” a player who wanted to remain anonymous told FARPost. 

“The driver was advised by the security. We lost 20 minutes of our training session. By 18:00, the same security ordered us out, which was not welcomed by our team. 

“The home country just invaded the pitch. They even kicked our balls out of the field.”

SAFA, through an official, have filed a complaint with CAF regarding the incident.

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