South African national men’s U17 head coach Vela Khumalo couldn’t have been happier to see his charges qualify for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup, saying it’s mission accomplished.
Amajimbos did initially not qualify for the ongoing U17 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco having missed out on the final in the qualifiers at the COSAFA U17 Championships in Gauteng last year. But with the number of teams participating increased saw themselves go to the continental showpiece which is also a World Cup qualifier.
The side lost their last group match 2-0 to group winners Burkina Faso on Sunday to finish second in Group B with four points to make the knockout stages while subsequently meeting their target to book a place in the event to be held in Qatar in November.
Khumalo is elated to be going to the world cup while also planning to see how far Amajimbos can go at the AFCON.
“Let me take this opportunity to thank each and every South African who rallied behind us,” Khumalo told safa.net.
“And this is a great moment and a big achievement. I think initially, I made it clear that more than anything we want to qualify for the World Cup. So, it’s mission accomplished. I’m very excited and delighted despite the last results which I think we still played well. We did not convert our chances, and we need to be a little bit more aggressive and direct.
“And I’m excited I’m happy, happy for the boys, happy for myself. A big challenge ahead of us playing at the world stage it means a lot and I’m looking forward and the boys and the technical team to the World Cup.
“With regards to the quarterfinals, we’ll go back and strategize and plan thoroughly, but we will take this as part of practice, and we want to go through and through. Let’s see how it goes. But I’m excited I’m happy. To all the South Africans I think we did not disappoint we qualified for the World Cup which was the main, main thing and the rest will just be the cherry on top. But I’m very, very happy and excited.”
South Africa will face the host nation Morocco in the last eight round on Thursday, April 10, after they finished first in Group A.
