Amajita head coach Serame Letsoaka says the national team is ready for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup.Amajita have been handed a favourable draw, being pitted in a group along with Honduras, Hungary and the United Arab Emirates, but Letsoaka has warned against complacency.“What people should know is that there are no small teams that have qualified and that means all the teams will have to work hard to proceed to the next round,” he told KickOff.com.
Letsoaka, who has just been appointed as the South African FA’s (SAFA) new technical director, will travel to Egypt as his last assignment before taking over his new position.“With enough preparations the boys will do the country pride as they did in Rwanda, where they finished fourth and qualified for the finals,” he added.
Letsoaka pointed out that while Amajita have yet to begin preparations for the September tournament, team manager Winston Marumo, who attend the draw in Luxor, Egypt, would try to organise a few international friendlies for the team in Europe.
The South Africans will be eager to repeat their feat of the class of 1997 when, under the guidance of Shakes Mashaba, the side earned rave reviews and finished runners-up after losing 1-0 to Morocco in the final.
Unfortunately, this was the last time they made an appearance in the tournament.Amajita’s gutsy performance at the recent African Youth Championships in Rwanda will not be overlooked by the opposition.
The South Africans opened their campaign by beating highly-rated Ivory Coast 1-0. They then won 2-1 against favourites Nigeria, who had never been beaten by a South African side in a competitive match.
However, the highlight of their campaign was arguably a brilliant fightback against eventual champions Ghana in the semi-finals, when South Africa came from three goals down to lose 4-3.
Egypt 2009 will be Hungary’s fifth appearance at a FIFA Under-20 World Cup. On the four previous occasions, however, in 1977 (Tunisia), 1979 (Japan), 1985 (former USSR) and 1997 (Malaysia), they were unable to make a name for themselves on the big stage, falling each time in the first round.
Things could well be different in Egypt, though. Wilco van Buuren’s youngsters are riding the crest of a wave after their impressive performance in last year’s UEFA Under-19 Championships, and it would come as little surprise to see the east Europeans make significant progress.
The Europeans beat both Bulgaria and Spain 1-0 before losing 2-1 against Germany on the road to qualifying.While not underestimating any team, Amajita’s opponents from the CONCACAF zone, Honduras will have much to prove.
The last time they reached this stage of the competition, much was expected of them, but their campaign at Netherlands 2005 ended in heartbreak. Three heavy defeats saw them go home early with zero goals scored and 15 conceded.
Honduras obtained a third-place finish in the CONCACAF zone this time out, with a 2-2 draw against El Salvador, a goalless draw against the highly-rated US and a 4-0 drubbing of Jamaica.
source: http://www.goal.com/en/
