Senong Targets Under-20 World Cup Knockout Stage With Amajita

South Africa U-20 national team head coach Thabo Senong is confident that the Amajita will make it past the group stage of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.

The African giants are making their second appearance at the quadrennial event and coach Senong, who guided the side to the finals after finishing second in Group A at the Africa Youth Championships (AYC) in February, says they have what it takes to make it to the last 16.

“Any team that is in this group has a possible chance of progressing into the knockout rounds,” Senong said. “It will all boil down to who wants it more.”

Amajita will play their first Group F game on Saturday against Argentina at Tychy Stadium. Kick-off is at 20h30.

“We are really looking forward to our World Cup group fixtures,” Senong said. “We had good presentations which helped us to get our boys to a physical and mental state we wanted them to be in for this event.”

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “Our target is to push for a top-two finish which would guarantee us a place in the knockout rounds. Good preparations and planning for our group matches will help us achieve this objective.”   [/perfectpullquote]

South Africa are in the same group as the Korea Republic and Portugal.

England won the previous tournament after beating Venezuela 1-0 in the final. It was the 21^st edition of the tournament after it started in 1977.