PANAJI
South Africa were held to a goalless stalemate by China in their second match of the BRICS U-17 Tournament at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, on Sunday.
Despite the fixture featuring some end-to-end stuff in the dying embers of the match, both teams lacked the necessary finesse to score the deciding goal and had to share the spoils of battle at the stroke of full-time. Wen Zhijun’s boys leapfrog India and jump into the fourth place, accumulating one point out of a possible nine. Meanwhile, the ‘Amajimbos’ maintain their third position in the Group.
For South Africa however, the match was all about missed opportunities as the ‘Amajimbos’ dominated play in the final third but failed to capitalize on their fostered chances. After a drab first half, South Africa started to show determination in attack and a porous Chinese defence could only see the ‘Amajimbos’ breeze clearly onto goal.
In the 65th minute, Lyle Foster missed a one versus one opportunity against the Chinese custodian and a minute later, it was déjà vu for the South African forward as he tried to tap home a cross from the right flank but failed to make clean contact. Perhaps the best chance for the African Team came in the 76th minute, when Tyreese Pillay’s rasping shot sped past a hapless Wang Xianjung dive and rattled the right post. With neither team able to take advantage the full-time scoreline read 0-0.
