SA U17 coach finds comfort in Nelson Mandela’s words after loss

South Africa Under 17 boys football team coach Duncan Crowie has found comfort in Nelson Mandela’s words of wisdom after COSAFA Championship defeat.

Duncan Crowie quoted Mandela’s remarks after Amajimbos lost 1-0 to Zambia to miss out on the COSAFA Championship.

Crowie said he was not bitterly disappointed with the loss but rather his focus was on the lessons learnt.

WHAT NELSON MANDELA SAID ABOUT WINNING AND LOSING

“Our former president Nelson Mandela once said you never win or lose but you either lose or learn. Therefore, I would rather say we have learnt something from this tournament,” he said.

The Amajimbos coach said his wards had the chances to win the final but failed to make the most of scoring opportunities.

“We knew that it was going to be tough. In the first-half, we had some chances but we could not score,” he said.

INEXPERIENCE COST AMAJIMBOS COSAFA CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE

Duncan Crowie noted that inexperience partly contributed to Amajimbos failure to take their scoring chances.

“With a little bit experience and a little bit exposure, we could have scored towards the end,” he said.

Duncan Crowie also took comfort from the fact that Amajimbos dominated individual awards.

“I think the players can hold their heads high that they did their best,” he said.

Amajimbos keeper Gennnaro Johnson was named keeper of the tournament.

Hot striker Siyabonga Mabena went home with the Golden Boot Award and Player of the Tournament accolades.

South Africa put up a good fight only to succumb to Kelvin Phiri’s 60^th minute goal from a rebound.

Zambia had played a free-kick which caused pandemonium in the penalty box resulting in the box being cleared against the upright.

The rebound fell kindly to Phiri who needed the simplest of touches to score the only goal of the game at Bingu National Stadium.

The consolation for Amajimbos is that they secured a ticket to the AFCON finals for the under-17 scheduled for Algeria next year.

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