South Africa.….. (1) 2

Keenan Phillips 22′, Lyle Foster 85′

 

Argentina……… (1) 5

Fausto Vera 3, Esequiel Barco 60′ 70′, Julian Alvarez 79′ Adolfo Gaich 89′

 

25 May 2019 – The South African U-20 Men’s National Team, Amajita, opened their 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup campaign with a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Argentina on Saturday (25 May 2019).

The Group F fixture was played at Tychy Stadium in Poland.

The result means Amajita will now have to claw their way out of being bottom of their group, and push for a possible top two finish, by fighting for two positive results in their remaining group fixtures.

A best third place finish out of the six groups set up in this tournament would also see Amajita earn their way into the knockout stages of this global footballing event.

In the first half, Amajita took a bit of time to settle into the game, which allowed Argentina to pounce on that weakness.

Argentina’s goal came in the third minute when Vausto Vera connected well with an oncoming cross from a corner kick to head in the opening goal.

Amajita responded well to that lead by not allowing it to deter their performance and worked their way back into the game with some aggression and good defensive organisation in their play.

Thabo Senong’s charges scored 19 minutes later when Keenan Phillips headed home a beauty of a goal from Promise Mkhuma’s free kick.

From that goal onwards, Amajita created plenty of chances with an attempt of fighting to be in the lead.

In the second half, Argentina came back more fired up and ended up scoring four goals to give their side the desired win.

Brace scorer, Esequiel Barco, was the second player to put his name on Argentina’ score sheet after they were awarded a penalty following Givemore Khupe’s late challenge inside the box.

The forward wasted no chance and hit the back of the net, before scoring with a volley 10 minutes later.

Lyle Foster scored South Africa’s second goal in the 85thminute, but it was too little too late for Amajita to stage a comeback.

It ended 5-2 to Argentina.