9 May 2019 – An unfortunate defensive error committed in the second period of the match, saw South Africa’s National Under-20 (Amajita) side suffer a 1-0 defeat to Panama in a friendly encounter which took place in Opalenica, Poland on Wednesday (8 May).
Panama midfielder, West Jesus, easily directed the ball straight into the back of the net after Amajita goalkeeper, Glen Baadjies, left his goalmouth unattended to challenge for the ball inside his 18-yard box.
Prior to that goal, Amajita played with great confidence and dominance while pressing their opponents up in their defensive third in the first stanza of the game.
They also created numerous amounts of scoring opportunities which could have seen them being at least two goals up going into the halftime break.
Those chances never manifested into goals, though, as they either missed the goalmouth by whisker, or denied by opposition goalkeeper.
Amajita gradually dropped in their performance in the second period of the match, as their opponents started finding each other with passes moving forward.
Panama’s clear chance at goal came just 12 minutes into the second period of the match, with Jesus taking full advantage of converting the only goal of the game, after finding himself unmarked outside the 18 yard box.
In their next friendly, Amajita will take on Ukraine on 18 May as part of their preparations leading up to the upcoming 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
That international football tournament will run from 23 May to 15 June in Poland.
In the World Cup, Amajita will compete with Argentina, Korea Republic and Portugal in their Group F fixtures.
A top two finish that group will guarantee them a place in the knockout stages of biennial international footballing event.