11 July 2018– Burger-King Sponsored South Africa’s national Under-20 (Amajita) coach Thabo Senong says that the 1-0 defeat against Buya Msuthu FC this Wednesday afternoon, gave him the much needed information as to assess how far off his other players in his squad are in their fitness levels.
Senong fielded a completely different starting 11 as compared to the one which played to a 3-3 draw against Zambia this past weekend. The Amajita coach stated that he wanted to see how the other half of his quad gelled together in the field of play, and that he will use what he has seen to continue pushing to get the best out of them.
Amajita are in camp at Royal Bafokeng Sports Complex in Phokeng, preparing for their upcoming third round first leg 2019 Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations qualifier against Malawi. The match will take place this Sunday (July 15th) at Moruleng Stadium. Kick-off is at 3pm.
“Today we played against Buya Msuthu FC who are the reigning ABC Motsepe League champions of this province,” Senong said. “They gave us a good test because they are also preparing for their upcoming Maize Cup tournament as well. We created a whole lot of chances; however, it was Buya Msuthu who ended up winning the match. We lost the game yes, however, this match provided us with a whole lot of information regarding our boys who didn’t feature in the Zambia friendly. These are the kind of games that one needs in order to find the right balance and good combinations for his squad.
“50 per cent of this squad is ready to play in Sunday’s match, while the 50 is not and that’s mainly because some of them come from the off season and the schools mid-term breaks. That then means they really need to work a lot harder in training. We’ll push them (the other 50 per cent), and I believe the rest of the squad will be 100 per cent by them we play Malawi in the second leg.”
Asked what he thought of their Sunday’s Under-20 Afcon qualifier opponents; Senong said: “Malawi is a good side. We need to respect them and work very hard in our preparations. I believe that our hard work will see us getting a good result this Sunday. It’s a two legged match, and this third and final round of the qualifiers can be won on either leg.”