Pretoria - The South African Development Team reached the quarter-finals of the 2nd Orange African National Championship (CHAN) in Sudan after they beat neighbouring Zimbabwe 2-1 last night.
South Africa finished on top of pool B with nine points after winning all their three group stage matches. On their first match, they defeated Ghana 2-1, then Niger 2-nil.
Last night's win against Zimbabwe was a perfect birthday present to their head coach, Simon Ngomane, who celebrated his 47th birthday on Saturday and could not ask for a better present.
Zimbabwe took the lead through Norman Maroto in the second minute of the game. South Africa found the equaliser in the 33rd minute through first half substitute Bheki Shabangu, who had come in three minutes earlier for Sakhile Kunene.
Nhlakanipho Mkhwanazi scored the match winner in the 62nd minute to help South Africa maintain their impressive unbeaten record.
Now, South Africa will face Algeria in the quarter-finals on Friday. The match was previously scheduled to take place at the Madeni Stadium, but has now been moved to the Khartoum Stadium.
Kick-off is at 5pm local time in Sudan (4pm South African time).
Ngomane congratulated his team for a good fight in what was probably their toughest match of the tournament mentally.
"Having won the first two matches, I was afraid complacency was going to creep in, so the players had to be strong mentally to win this one. I am impressed with the way they carried on about their job. I want them to forget about the next match for a while and just enjoy the victory and the achievement so far. We will only start thinking about the next match later.
"We should not fool ourselves though; Algeria will be a tougher encounter than what we have faced so far in this tournament.
"They are a very strong side, just like most North African teams, but we have worked very hard and will continue doing so this week before we face them on Friday. We will be playing on an artificial turf for the first time in the tournament and that in itself will be a big challenge. But we will deal with that when the time comes," he said.
Watching from the stands when South Africa defeated Zimbabwe was South African Football Association (SAFA) President, Kirsten Nematandani, who was equally impressed by the boys' performance.
"We need to congratulate each member of the team on a job well done. I need to remind you though that it is not over as the journey has just begun. This is the beginning of new and even tougher challenges, but I have confidence in your abilities and I believe that no challenge is too big to overcome.
"You can achieve even bigger things because you are there for one another and that is one of your most powerful weapons and I want to urge you guys to use this powerful tool going forward. Well done once again and good luck for the future," he said.
