South Africa’s coach Duncan Crowie says the team will take the lessons from their 5-0 loss at the hands of Senegal in the quarterfinals of the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers on Wednesday.
The defeat saw the Amajimbos bow out of the tournament, and their dreams of a World Cup place also fading off.
“The spirit of the South African team is that we don’t lose, we always learn from our defeats. This is a tough lesson and we will take it in. We faced a very good team with dangerous individual players. We tried to stop them but could not succeed,” the coach offered.
Crowie adds; “The result is a disappointment for us. No one wants to lose 5-0. Senegal had very good physically able players with good speed. We couldn’t match in several instances.”
The tactician says conceding two quick back-to-back own goals did a lot of damage to the players’ psychological state and they failed to recover in time, allowing Senegal to add a third and go to the break 3-0 up.
“I don’t blame anyone for the defeat, even the players who scored own goals. It is part of the game and we can only pick the lessons. I am proud of the players and everything they have given in this tournament,” Crowie noted.
He believes that if nurtured, the players have what it takes to make the next steps in their careers and stake claim of places in the senior Bafana Bafana squad in the next few years.