South African U20 Men’s National team coach Raymond Mdaka says they know what to expect when they come up against Colombia in the Round of 16 at the FIFA U20 Men’s World Cup currently underway in Chile, South America.
The African Champions finished second in Group E on six points following victories over New Caledonia (5-0) and favourites USA (2-1), as well as a defeat against France (1-2). Colombia brushed aside Saudi Arabia 1-0, and shared points with Norway (0-0) and Nigeria (1-1) to finish top of Group F, and undefeated on five points.
Mdaka is well aware that the South Americans will offer a different assignment.
“We’ve been watching Colombia since we knew we were playing them – they are a smart team, very disciplined in terms of their system, in terms of their formation and but like any other game there are areas where we think as a team we can be able to explore, areas that we can go into in terms of the spaces that they leave, but they are a good team. They don’t concede that much if you look into their record, and much as they leave some spaces where we can explore defensively they look very organized. But this is a team that we’ve looked into, a team that we are still going to work on overnight so that we have the best approach when we play them,” said Mdaka.
This will be the first time that Amajita face South American opposition in the current competition, and Mdaka knows what to expect.
“The style of play will be a little different but I think one thing that we fighting for, and we’re getting there, is how we quickly adapt to situations or adapt to playing styles in terms of playing different teams coming from different countries with different kinds of play. But we feel we have got that kind of character of players who can be able to adapt and take us to the next level,” added Mdaka.
South African Football Association (SAFA) President Dr Danny Jordaan wished Amajita well and said they would continue to blaze a trail after becoming the first South African National team to win two matches at a FIFA World Cup.
Amajita and Colombia face off on Wednesday (8 October) at 21h30 South African time (16h30 local time in Chile) at Estadio Fiscal de Talca.
In the quarterfinals, Spain awaits the winner between these two nations with the last clash scheduled for Saturday (11 October) at the same venue.
The Europeans defeated Ukraine 1-0 on Tuesday (7 October) in Valparaiso. South Africa is one of three African countries left in the tournament with Nigeria playing Argentina on Wednesday, while Morocco tackles South Korea on Friday. Egypt has been eliminated.
