South Africa's U-23 side suffered a 3-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia's U23s in an international friendly match on Saturday evening.

Read: Tau & Zungu Lead Bafana To Scrappy Win

The SA U-23 side organised two friendly matches against Saudi Arabia in the Middle East as part of the preparations for the postponed Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games which will take place between July and August next year.

The visitors had a bright start with Nkosigiphile Ngcobo orchestrating a lot of attacks but Saudi Arabia were doing well to deny them clear scoring chances, but Fagrie Laky came close to breaking the deadlock for David Notoane's charges in the 23rd minute with an effort from distance.

Zakhele Lepasa eventually broke the deadlock for South Africa just before the break after he was setup by Lakay with a cross before the Orlando Pirates forward came close to making it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time with another chance but struck wide.

The young Bafana could not hold onto their lead going to the break as Saudi Arabia levelled matters in first-half stoppage time through Ayman Alkhulaif's finish.

Saudi Arabia had a big chance to go ahead four minutes after the break after they were awarded a penalty but Khalifa Aldawsari's spot-kick was saved by shot-stopper Sifiso Mlungwana.

After Katlengo Mohammed went wide with a header, the visitors eventually conceded a penalty in the last three minutes, with Spiwe Msimango guilty of a challenge inside the box which allowed Nasser Oloran to score from 12-yards out.

South Africa responded immediately thereafter as Lakay snatched the equaliser a minute later but that was not enough to avoid defeat as Ramzi Holan netted the winner for the hosts in stoppage time.

The two sides will meet again on Tuesday for the second and last friendly match, as Notoane continues to fine-tune the team in preparation for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Check out the images below from Bafana Bafana's win over Sao Tome: