Amajimbos’ display in U-17 World Cup impressed former coaches worldwide – Jordaan

Safa president Danny Jordaan says Amajimbos have received plaudits from former coaches around the world following their performance at the ongoing U-17 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.

SA U-17 qualified for the last 32 after finishing second in Group A with four points following a win, a draw and a defeat. They beat Bolivia 3-1 in the opening match before drawing with host Qatar 1-1 and losing to Italy 3-1 in their final match of the group.

But that was enough to see them qualify for the last 32, where they will face Japan in the knockout stage on Saturday at Aspire Zone in Doha at 3.30pm.

“You can see this team can play football. Arsene Wenger said so in Morocco, after he watched them, and he said this is a very good team. Even the Fifa observers at the game were very impressed and said this team can play,” Jordaan told Safa media.

“The quality of both teams, Italy and SA, was very high. Of course, SA made a few mistakes, and it’s suicidal if you make mistakes at this level, but I’m sure that they’ve learnt through that process.”

Jordaan also feels Vela Khumalo’s team has gained a lot of experience in this tournament, which will help them in their growth as footballers, and that he is confident they will do well against Japan on Saturday.

“If you look at our team and you look at the U17s of Italy, you find some of those players are already playing in the upper levels and the top leagues in Italy, while in SA we are not giving these boys a chance at higher levels,” he said.

“And that is the gap you saw against Italy, but the boys have learnt that one day they are down and the next they are up and will become better players.

“But I think that they’ve grown through this tournament and become a better team and better individuals in the team.”

Sowetan