Amajita coach Mdaka hoping for good result against ‘tough’ USA

The South Africa U20 side will realise the value of their emphatic 5-0 win over New Caledonia if they avoid defeat against the USA in their final Group E match of the U20 Fifa World Cup at the Estadio El Teniente in Rancagua, Chile at 10pm (SA time) on Sunday.

Raymond Mdaka’s team bounced back from a 1-0 loss in their opening match against France to beat New Caledonia on Thursday but now have a tough task to get a decent result against the USA to have a chance of making it to the last 16.

The USA is now one of the tournament’s favourites after progressing to the last 16 following their 3-0 win over France on Thursday.

The Americans top the group on six points after opening the tournament with a 9-1 thrashing of minnows New Caledonia.

A draw against the USA will almost ensure that Amajita, the African champions, progress to the last 16 even as one of the four third-placed teams if France overtake them with an expected victory over New Caledonia in their final group match on Sunday.

Mdaka was not completely happy with the number of goals his side scored against New Caledonia, as goal difference and goals scored could be crucial in deciding who goes through to the next round.

Already Amajita are ahead of Egypt who finished their group matches on three points and -2 on goal difference to finish third behind hosts Chile, who progressed on the conduct score, which is based on a team’s disciplinary record, including the number of red and yellow cards.

Chile had finished on the same number of points and goal difference as Egypt.

“Now we’re sitting on three points, we’ll forget about New Caledonia and we might still have a chance to go through as the third best. USA are a very good team and we need to be very disciplined technically in terms of our structure to get a result.

“It will be a very tough game but we’ll sit down with all members of the technical team and see how we can approach the game,” said Mdaka.

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