6 May 2019 – South Africa’s National Under-20 (Amajita) coach Thabo Senong says he is pleased that his national juniors are now beginning to catch rhythm of how he wants them to play leading up to this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup.
This comes after Senong observed how his charges took full control of their friendly match against Qatar this past Sunday where they ended up winning 1-0.
Senong stated that Thabiso Monyane’s goal, which came in the 68th minute of the match, was a result of a team which pulled together from the onset up until the final whistle.
“I am happy with how our preparations have gone so far,” Senong said of their now three friendly matches played so far leading up to the upcoming 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
“Our boys gave a very solid performance in our friendly match against Qatar. We took a while to adapt to how our opposition plays in the first half, however, once we got the hang of the flow of the game, we started playing with better rhythm moving forward. Our boys started enjoying themselves and that is what we want from them in game situations. They need to enjoy each game they participate in because that will see them producing more winning results.”
Senong also lamented on a few chances missed in front of goal, adding that this was one area they still need to work on before the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup kicks off in Poland from 23 May – 15 June.
In the World Cup, Amajita are pitted in Group F alongside Argentina, Korea Republic and Portugal.
A top two finish in their group will guarantee them a spot in the knockout stages of the tournament.
“We could have scored possibly three goals in that match,” Senong said. “There were a few chances that we missed and we now have to go back to our drawing board and try to fix that. Our finishing can still be better.”
Amajita will fly back to Szamotuly, Poland this afternoon; where they will continue with their World Cup preparations leading ahead of their fourth friendly match against Ukraine scheduled for 18 May.