Football: South African Mens U20 Arrive In Ethiopia

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The National Under 20 side, Amajita, have safely arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to play in a qualifier for the 2015 African Youth Championship in Senegal.

The tie will be a second round, first leg clash, with the side set to have a training session today.

Head coach, Shakes Mashaba, says they are feeling confident despite not having the benefit of a full squad because of certain clubs not releasing their players.

”I believe this is a good chance for the boys we picked up at the SAFA U19 Championships held recently in Bloemfontein to show what they are made of, and show if they really belong to the national team. The good thing though about this team is that we have the spine of the team that won the U20 COSAFA Cup in Lesotho last year, and I am positive they can do the business,” said Mashaba.

Facing Ethiopia, Mashaba said they will not underestimate them, and is aware of the threat that they pose by saying, ”We however, need not underestimate Ethiopia.

“Remember their senior side defeated Bafana Bafana, and their juniors defeated the Seychelles home and away, which tells you that they have something to offer. We can’t ignore that. “

He also concluded that the squad will have to pick up from where they left off in the COSAFA Cup tournament by adding, “We have to improve from the COSAFA Cup victory, and show that it was not a fluke.”

“We need to qualify for the African Youth Championship tournament, and if we do well there, we will be playing in the U20 World Cup tournament. The first step is to win our away games starting with this one on Sunday. If we do that, we will increase our chances of qualifying for the Youth Championships. ”

“We have to apply the same positive winning mentality we used to win the COSAFA Cup, ” he concluded.

Amajita will have their last training session tomorrow at the venue, and the game will commence at 15:00 South African time.

soccerladuma.co.za