South Africa lost 3-1 to Colombia in their Round of 16 Fifa Under-20 World Cup clash at Estadio Fiscal de Talca, in Chile.
While the scoreline was convincing in favour of the South Americans, the contest itself was anything but one-sided.
Colombia started faster with the opener in just the seventh minute of the encounter as Joel Morales received the ball in the Amajita box without much trouble from the SA defence, and reeled off a pinpoint strike from a tight angle to make it 1-0.
Shakeel April should have levelled matters just after the quarter-hour mark as he found the ball on the edge of the Colombia box, before faking a shot to lose his defender but then with just the keeper to beat he launched his attempt over the crossbar.
In the 24th minute, SA keeper Fletcher Hani Smythe-Lowe showed his worth as he pulled off a great reaction save from Emilio Aristizábal from close range to ensure South Africa didn’t go two goals down early in the match.
The sides headed to the interval with no further change to the score.
Immediately upon resumption of the game though, Amajita were awarded a penalty as Colombia keeper Jordan Garcia brought down Siviwe Magidigidi in the box. Mfundo Vilakazi stepped up to convert from the spot to set up an intriguing climax to the game.
Just after the hour mark though, Colombia took the lead once more. After a sloppy cross was allowed to bounce several times in the Amajita box through some poor defending, Neiser Villarreal was allowed to reel off a thunderous shot into the net to make it 2-1.
While Amajita tried their best to find an equaliser, it ultimately proved elusive as Villarreal bagged his brace in injury time to end the match with an emphatic scoreline that did not reflect the fight of the South Africans.
