15 February 2019 – We will do everything in our power to come out with a positive result against Nigeria.
These are the words of South Africa’s National Under-20 (Amajita) captain Khulekani Kubheka who stated that Amajita are more than determined to push for a third place finish in their 3rd/4th place playoff of the U20 Africa Cup of Nations match against Nigeria on Saturday at the Seyni Kouche Stadium.
That match will kick-off at 17H30 (SA time).
Amajita qualified for their second FIFA Under-20 World Cup in a row after beating Burundi 1-0 in their final Group A match to book their place in the final four of this ongoing continental competition.
In the knockout stages, Amajita were subjected to a 1-0 defeat against Senegal, who will now face Mali in the final on 17 February 2019.
Kubheka said it was quite unfortunate that they missed out on an opportunity to play in this year’s final, adding that the Nigeria match is another opportunity for them to finish this tournament on a high.
“Football is a 90 minute game and some times, in knockout stage matches, it can be stretched to 120 minutes,” Kubheka said. “For us, this Nigeria match is another 90 minutes where we will apply ourselves to push for a positive result. Sure we played to a 0-0 draw in our group match against Nigeria, however, this is another opportunity for us to prove that we can beat them.”
Kubheka added: “We gave it our best in our knockout stage matches, however, unfortunately it was not to be for us. Our main objective was to qualify for this year’s upcoming FIFA Under-20 World Cup and also push for a winners medal in this tournament. We lost out of that opportunity and we intend to finish off this tournament on a high by beating Nigeria.” said a confident Kubheka.