Four bizarre incidents from SA Under-23s trip to Congo Brazzaville

The SA Under-23 national team has had a fair share of bizarre incidents during their trip to Congo Brazzaville.

Their hosts for the CAF AFCON Under 23 qualifier match have thrown everything at them in a bid to unsettle them.

Congo managed a 1-1 against SA Under-23 draw at Dobsonville Stadium and will be hoping to finish it off at the Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat in the capital Brazzavile on Monday [18h00 SA time].

At stake is qualification for the Under 23 Nations Cup that will be hosted in Morocco in June and July.

FARPost looks at a number of bizarre incidents SA U-23 have faced on the trip.

THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING BAGS

Upon arrival in the Central African nation, the team discovered that 11 of their bags had gone missing. Some of the bags had the personal clothing of players and officials while the other had a playing kit.

Of course, the SA Under 23s carried two sets of kits, but not having an alternative jersey would have put them in a difficult spot.

“The fear was that if they decided to use a kit colour similar to the only one we were remaining with, it was going to be a problem. I even suspected that the missing bags were a deliberate ploy to frustrate us,” a source who travelled with the team said.

Luckily, the bags were found 24 hours after the team arrived. The airline, Rwandair, apologised for the inconvenience.

FAILING TO ACCESS MATCH VENUE

Coach David Notoane expressed unhappiness over the facility they used to train in preparation for the match on Saturday.

After they could not access the training on the artificial surface of the match venue at Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat on Saturday, they had to travel further to an alternate venue. That venue did not have lights, meaning they had less than 45 minutes of training.

“We had our first session yesterday [Saturday]. Unfortunately, we couldn’t access the main stadium as per the rules, where we are allowed two days’ training on the AstroTurf or they can organise an alternative,” Notoane told TimesLive.

“We got an alternative training venue that was below standard, but we managed 45 minutes of training.
“We didn’t have a longer session because we travelled longer to that venue and there were no lights there. And we trained at 5pm and it got dark. Hence I wasn’t too happy with the venue.

DRIVING AROUND A LONGER ROUTE

When going to their final training session before the game at the Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat, they drove for 20 minutes for a trip that would ordinarily take three minutes.

The delay meant they missed 20 minutes of their hour-long training. “We had a challenge when going for training at the match venue. It’s only three minutes from our hotel, but we travelled 20 minutes with another route.

Apparently, the driver was advised by security. We lost 20 minutes of our session. By 18h00, the same security ordered us out, and our players resister.”

PITCH INVASION WHILE TRAINING

Congo’s players invaded the pitch while the South Africans were busy training. Because of driving the longer route to training, Notoane thought they could get a few more minutes to fine tune. However, the hosts had other ideas, forcing them off the pitch.

“The Congo players just invaded the pitch and our players resisted. They kicked our balls out,” a player travelling with the team said.
A complaint has since been filed to CAF over the incident.

RELATED STORY: ‘They kicked our balls out’, SA Under 23 player details Congo ill-treatment