Pretoria - The South African Under-23 national team has been drawn in Group A in the first ever African Under-23 Championship, which will serve as last round qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The Shakes Mashaba team has been drawn alongside hosts Egypt, Gabon and Ivory Coast in their group.
The draw was conducted at the headquarters of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Cairo at the weekend. Group B has Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria and Senegal.
CAF decided to turn the final phase of Olympic qualifiers into an African U-23 Championship. The tournament will now be held every four years and will fall in the year preceding each Olympics.
The inaugural Championship starts on Saturday, 26 November 2011 and runs until Saturday, 10 December when the final match will be played.
Group A matches will be held at the Military Stadium in Cairo, while Group B will play their games at the Arab Contractor Stadium.
The third and fourth place play-offs, as well as the final, will take place at the Cairo International Stadium.
The South African Football Association's (SAFA) CEO, Dr Robin Petersen, was present at the draw.
"This is a tough draw and whoever we would have got in our group would have been equally tough because all eight teams are good.
"Having said that, l think this is a group that we can come out of with some positive results, and we are confident that we can make it to the London Olympic Games and join our women's team, which has already qualified for the event," said Petersen.
South Africa will first take on Ivory Coast on Saturday, 26 November, before they face Gabon three days later. The final group stages match will be against the host Egypt on Friday, 2 December.
The semi-finals are scheduled for Wednesday, 7 December 2011, where the first placed in Group A will take on second placed in Group B, and first placed in Group B will face off against second place in Group A.
The top three teams will qualify for the London 2012 Olympics, while the fourth placed side will engage a team from Asia in a play-off. - BuaNews
