U-20 AFCON: South Africa 'matched Egypt pound for pound' but unlucky - Mdaka

Photo Credit: Egyptian Football Association/Facebook

South Africa U-20 national team coach Raymond Mdaka believes that his side deserved to get something from their opening Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) fixture against hosts Egypt at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday.

Despite dominating the Group A fixture, Mohamed Abdallah's 62nd-minute goal settled the game in favour of the young Pharaohs.

“What a difficult game, I think they did their best and we also did our best obviously. It wouldn’t be as simple as that. From the look of things, we were just unlucky a number of times, we hit the ball post maybe three times, we couldn’t finish,” said Mdaka, as quoted by SABC Sports.

“Well done to Egypt, we always think like that in football because it’s their home game, but actually, I wouldn’t say that impacted [our defeat].

"Had we converted the chances that we got, we wouldn’t say anything about the fans, but obviously as the hosts, the crowd behind them. But we can’t hide behind the crowd and say it’s because they are playing at home.

“We were able to match them pound for pound. We created our own chances, some that we did not take. So, we can’t blame the supporters.”

Amajita will next face Tanzania in their second group fixture at Suez Canal Stadium on Wednesday.