-23 AFCON: We Are Happy To Face Algeria – South African Coach
The coach of South Africa U-23 national team, Owen Da Gama, is delighted that his team avoided a clash with Nigeria in the semi-final, adding that Algeria is a blessing in disguise for him at the ongoing U-23 African nations Cup.
Owen Da Gama
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Da Gama admitted that their semi-final encounter against Algeria will be tough, but he prefers to play the North Africans than Nigeria who will meet Senegal in the other semi.
Both semi-final games will be played on Wednesday December 9, and a win for any of the team will automatically land them in Rio 2016 Olympics.
The losers will have one more opportunity as the winner of the third-place play-off will join the party to Rio.
Speaking with journalists in Senegal ahead of their match against Algeria, Da Gama said: “It is going to be a tough one there is no doubt about it, these are the best four nations on the continent at this stage. We were expecting any one between Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt but we got Algeria as they topped their group,” Africanfootball reports.
“It is probably a blessing in disguise that we are playing them because Nigeria is also a quality team as well as Egypt, who have unfortunately been knocked out.
“We have to deal with another North African tactical approach, very technical, solid in defence and very organised with very quick fullbacks and wingers. We will once more have almost the same type of approach.
“We will get good feedback from our technical team that went to watch the Algeria vs Nigeria clash, sit down, analyze them and find an approach to deal with them.
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“Once again, it is always going to be 70 percent of what we do and the other 30 percent of what they are about – otherwise you lose focus on your strengths if you focus too much on the opposition.
“We have to be very optimistic, we have to be very positive and tell ourselves that we have a very good chance in this game and most likely the opposition will be saying the same. The mood in the camp is very positive and we know what we are capable of on the day and I still believe if we get it right on the day we will come out victorious.”
However, Samson Siasia,the head coach of Nigeria’s U-23 team, has disclosed that he wanted to avoid hosts Senegal in the semi-final stage at the ongoing U-23 African Nations Cup.
Nigeria will face the Junior Terrenga Lions on Wednesday, for a place in the final of the tournament.
According to Siasia, the most important thing is that his team are just a step into the Rio 2016 Olympics.
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