The Burger King-sponsored South African U20 Men’s National Team beat Maccabi FC 1-0 in a practice match played earlier today (Monday, 8 May 2017) in Balfour Park, Johannesburg. Maccabi are the current Gauteng Province champions of the ABC Motsepe League.

A second half goal by Luther Singh was enough to give Amajita victory as they continue with preparations for the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup. Thabo Senong’s charges depart for Korea Republic on Wednesday 10 May 2017 where they will play an international friendly match against Costa Rica on Monday, 15 May 2017.

“We are traveling this week to ensure that the players have adequate time to acclimatize before the tournament starts – due to the huge time difference (7 hours) the players will need as much time as possible to do so as failure to deal with this could be detrimental to the team’s performance,” said Senong. “So we want to prepare them properly, lay a good foundation for them to do well and not take short cuts. I am also glad our preparations are going to plan and that is very pleasing.”

South Africa is in Group D of the World Cup against Japan, Uruguay and Italy. Amajita will be based in Suwon for the first two matches, while the third and final group stage clash will be played in Incheon.

Amajita kick off their World Cup campaign against Japan on 21 May 2017.