4 September 2017 – Interim head coach of the South African U20 National Team, Helman Mkhalele, says they are ready to compete against England and give a better performance than they did against Brazil.
The Burger King-sponsored Amajita take on England tonight (Monday, 4 September) at Harrison Park in Leek Town.
Kickoff is at 19h00 local time (20h00 South African time).
This is the second match of the tri-nations tournament taking place in England.
South Africa lost 4-0 to the South Americans in the first match on Wednesday, 30 August 2017.
In the next fixture of the event, Brazil and the host nation cancelled out each other in a goalless draw (Friday, 1 September).
“We had an opportunity to go watch that match with the technical team and what a good display we saw from the two teams. We are now aware that England will not be an easy team but I believe we are ready to tackle them. We saw some of their strong points and weak points, and we hope to capitalize on those. We are confident we will do well,” said Mkhalele.
The former Bafana Bafana winger adds that the positive about the second match is that they have had a good time to prepare thoroughly, compared to the first game.
“In the first fixture we had to quickly get going and play against Brazil without thoroughly preparations, more so because we brought a squad of players that had never played together and did not spend enough time on the training field. But we can’t use that as an excuse, as footballers we should be ready for any eventuality,” added Mkhalele.
“Our boys did well to execute the plan against Brazil in the first half, but the second half was very difficult as the energy levels dropped and that affected the whole game plan. The beauty about the England clash is that we are in a better position because we had time to work on some tactics with the players, but make no mistake, it will still be a difficult outing. They are playing at home, and will try to win at all costs more so because they did not get a win against Brazil, so they will want something out of this match. Our pride is at stake, our image has been dented, but we will go out there to compete and get better results. We are confident that we will improve on our last performance.”
With 20 players in camp, Mkhalele and his technical expect to ring some changes to give other players a chance without tampering much with their game plan.
The players were given the morning off on Sunday, 3 September and visited nearby Birmingham for a few hours.
Amajita will fly out of England on Tuesday night (5 September) and are expected to land at OR Tambo International Airport at 07h05 on Wednesday, 6 September.