South African national under-23 coach, David Notoane, has identified areas to improve in the team after their loss to Saudi Arabia.
The SA U23s lost 3-2 against Saudi Arabia at the King Abdulaziz Sport City Stadium in Jeddah on Saturday, but Notoane has promised that his team will bounce back to get a positive result in their second friendly match against the same opposition.
"We came into this tie knowing that the Saudi Arabia match was going to be a challenging one. There are a whole lot of positives that we picked up from a performance point of view, though we did not come out with a win as we would have wanted. We conceded all of our goals in the critical moments of the game," Notoane said, as quoted on SAFA's official website.
"Their first goal against us came late in the first half and they also scored two goals in the last 10 minutes of the match. This is something we can rectify leading up to our second friendly game, as we had only one training session coming from quarantine leading up to our first match," he said.
"We brought in a whole lot of new players, some of whom are graduates from our Under-20 national setup which went to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Poland last year. Players like Fagrie Lakay are some of the players which have been in the Under-23 database and I am happy that he is continuing with a fine form he has been showing from his mother club for us. He was involved in the first goal that we scored and also netted the second. I am happy with how he played in our first friendly tie. We still have the second match for the new players to break the ice in their respective performances and show us what they can do. We will push for a positive result in the second friendly match against the Saudis," the coach said.
The next friendly match is scheduled to take place on 17 November at the King Abdulaziz Sport City Stadium from 17h00 (Saudi Arabia time).
