Amajita captain Tercious Malepe says the prospect of playing at the CAF African Youth championships in Zambia and then progress to the FIFA Junior World Cup in South Korea are just too exciting for any football player.
Amajita captain Tercious Malepe says the prospect of playing at the CAF African Youth championships in Zambia and then progress to the FIFA Junior World Cup in South Korea are just too exciting for any football player.
The Burger-King South African u20 national team plays Lesotho in the second leg of the final 3rd round leading 2-0 from the first leg. The match will take place at Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein and kicks off at 15h00. Entrance to the match is free of charge.
“This is the beginning of an exciting journey to South Korea for the World Cup, that should be our aim and ultimate destiny,” said the tough-as-teak defender.
“But before we dream of Korea and Zambia, we have a job to do against Lesotho on Saturday. Yes, we are leading them 2-0 from the first leg but that was just the first half; we have to concentrate and focus for us to get a good result in the second round if we are to qualify for Zambia.
And as they say, one thing will lead to the other but we are very confident that we will see through this journey. We want to play at the World Cup in South Korea, make no mistake about that,” he added.
His sentiments were echoed by coach Thabo Senong who seemed relaxed and confident going into Saturday’s encounter with neighbouring Lesotho.
“We have done everything expected of us as far as preparations are concerned. Now is the time for the boys to go and deliver. They know the whole nation is expecting a lot from them and I am sure they will do the country proud,” said Senong who will leave straight for Brazil to join the u23s as the assistant coach to Owen da Gama.
Senong reiterated his call for Bloemfontein fans to come in their thousands and give Amajita morale support.
All of the country’s junior national teams are busy on several fronts. The u17 (Amajimbos) will early next month take on Tanzania in the Junior national championships qualifiers in which the winner will make it to Madagascar next year while the u23 leave for Brazil on Saturday to compete in the Rio Olympics together with Banyana Banyana.