South Africa face tough draw in Olympic qualifiers

Sep 25, 2011, 10:37 GMT

Johannesburg - The South African under-23 football team faces a tough route to the London Olympics after the draw for the final competition was conducted in Cairo.

Eight African teams will be playing in a competition in Egypt later this year for three direct places in the 2012 Olympic tournament. The fourth-placed team will be involved in a play-off with an Asian team.

The draw conducted late Saturday in Cairo sees South Africa face the hosts Egypt, Gabon and the Ivory Coast in Group A, while Group B sees Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria and Morocco compete.

The African football confederation CAF has decided that the competition will be the first-ever African Under-23 Championship.

It will be held every four years, serving as the final qualifiers for the Olympic tournament.

The CEO of the South African Football Association Robin Petersen said that it was a tough draw. 'However, whoever we would have got in our group would have been equally tough because all eight teams are good.

'But we are confident that we can make it the London Olympic Games and join our women's team which has already qualified for the event,' he said.

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