Pretoria - South Africa's under-23 squad, Amaglug-glug, minimised their chances of proceeding to the next stage of the 2012 London qualifiers after they played a one-all draw against Gabon on Wednesday night.
Even head coach Shakes Mashaba expressed his disappointment in his team's second draw in the Under-23 CAF Championship taking place in Morocco.
"We took the game to our opponents with the intention of scoring more goals. We did not play defensively at any stage of the match because we wanted a win at all costs but we were let down by lack of concentration and no composure in front of goals.
"Then we conceded a soft goal from a set-piece situation and the result now makes our game against Egypt on Saturday a must-win to qualify for the semi-finals. Victory against the Young Pharaohs guarantees us a passage to the last four of the championship, despite what happens in the other Group B clash between Cote d'Ivoire and Gabon," he said.
Baby Bafana took the lead in the first half through midfielder Mandla Masango and Gabon equalised deep into the second half to throw Group B wide open in the CAF Under-23 Championship.
In another Group B clash, Cote d'Ivoire, who played a one all draw with Amaglug-glug in their opening match, scored a late goal against Egypt to top the log with four points.
Egypt is second with three points, followed by South Africa on two points, while Gabon is bottom of the table with a solitary point from two matches.
Mashaba said it was poor finishing that has once again put South Africa in a difficult position.
While he was not happy about the results, Gabon coach Claude Albert was impressed with his charges.
"Our players take time to acclimatise to match conditions. They are very young and they need time to develop. I was impressed with their play in the second half after the boys came back very strongly despite being a goal down, and we managed to score.
"We will be back at training to finalise our preparations for the crucial clash against Cote d'Ivoire on Friday," he said.
