South African Under-23 national team coach David Notoane has admitted that they made more mistakes during their 4-3 Tokyo Olympics loss to France at the Saitama Stadium, Japan, on Sunday.
As a result of the loss, the South Africans have been knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics even before playing their final group stages match against Mexico.
Notoane’s boys lost 1-0 to hosts Japan in their opening match at the Tokyo Stadium on Thursday.
“Difficult game, exciting game, emotional game,” Notoane said after losing to France despite leading three times during the match.
“We went for it, they also came for it. I think at the end it was a game of margins of error. We made more mistakes in our defensive actions than France. They scored four, we scored three.”
Meanwhile, the former SuperSport United and Santos forward is pleased with the performance of his players despite losing the match.
“I’m proud of the boys for the effort, for the commitment, for the quality of play of football. We came with attacking intent,” he said.
The South African Under-23s are going to play their final Group A match against Mexico at the Sapporo Dome on Wednesday.
