22 February 2019 – South Africa’s National Under-20 (Amajita) head coach Thabo Senong will jet off to Gdynia, Poland tonight ahead of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup draw set to take place at the Gdynia Arena on 24 February 2019.
Senong stated that it is not going to be an easy draw, as all 24 nations who qualified for this major footballing event, earned their respective places by merit.
Amajita qualified for their second FIFA U-20 World Cup tournament in a row after finishing within the top four of this year’s U-20 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, which took place in Niger earlier this month.
In that continental showpiece, Senong also achieved a personal milestone by becoming the first South African Under-20 head coach to lead the national Under-20 juniors to back-to-back FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifications.
It was also for the first time that Amajita had finished third in their history of competing in this continental footballing event.
The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup is set to run from 23 May – 15 June.
“It is not going to be an easy draw for either nation set to compete in this global footballing event, that is for sure,” Senong said. “Every nation that will be participating in this tournament got there by merit and are not there just to add numbers.
“We are truly aware of this fact; hence we intend to have good preparations before we travel there for the main event. We have been there before (2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup South Korea edition), and we know what is expected of a national team to do well in that level. We intend to work really hard in our preparations leading up to that global showpiece.”
Senong will be accompanied by SAFA’s administrative Team Manager Levy Ramajoe where the two, during their three-day stay there, will get to do site inspections of where the Amajita team will be staying, training and playing all of their group stage matches when the tournament kicks off.
The pair are expected to be back in South Africa on 27 February 2019.