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Cape Town - The South African men’s Olympic team lost 1-0 Denmark in their second match of the 2016 Rio Olympics on Sunday at Mane Garrancha Stadium in Brasilia.
A goal in the 69th minute by Robert Skov was enough for the Danes to claim all three points of this Group A clash.
The match kicked off with Denmark on the attack as they played long balls behind the South African defence. They had a chance to take the lead in the first 10 minutes of the match, however goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was well positioned to deny them.
Gift Motupa was brought down the penalty area in the 15th minute however referee Ryuji Sato waved play on.
In the 27th minute Dolly combined very well with Motupa whose effort came off the woodwork.
From this move, Denmark turned defence into attack and nearly opened the scoring from a powerful Vibe strike but Khune denied him as he made an all important touch.
Vibe tried his luck again in the 36th minute but again found Khune very alert.
Three minutes later, South Africa’s captain Keagan Dolly made a great run and his long range shot could only rattle the woodwork – for the second time in the game.
Menzi Masuku was brought on at the restart for Tebogo Moerane as South Africa went in search for a goal – his presences was felt immediately as he passed to defender Rivaldo Coetzee in the opposition box but he shot in the wrong direction.
South Africa continued with their attacks, which yielded no results. Instead, it was Denmark who found the back of the net in the 69th minute when Skov benefitted from a miscommunication in the defence for the all-important goal.
Dolly had several chances to equalise however luck was not on his side as many of his attempts either came off the woodwork or went just wide of goal.
South Africa will play Iraq on Wednesday, August 10 in a must-win clash to keep alive hopes of progressing to the next round.
