Amajita head coach Raymond Mdaka has hailed his charges following their progression to the last 16 round at the U20 FIFA World Cup in Chile on Sunday.
South Africa who lost their opening game, finished second in Group E with six points after defeating the USA 2-1 in their final pool game to set-up a last 16 round clash with Colombia, who finished first in Group F. Amajita scored eight goals in the group stage campaign and conceded three.
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Mdaka was proud of his charges’ character and champions mentality against a US side that had already beaten everyone in the group before the encounter.
“Firstly, let me congratulate the boys I think, honestly the boys did a very good job,” Mdaka told Safa.net.
“They showed character; they showed that they are the African champions. It was not an easy game playing the USA, who had already won two games with a number of goals.
“So, it looked like it was a mountain to climb, but then we agreed as a team to say, let’s show up what we can as a team. And I’m happy because we showed the character.
“You see, the score in the first half, and you have to play the second half and be able to maintain, you see maintain and manage the game under pressure. They would come yes, and they were coming but we’re able to manage the game tactically and character wise, something that is always very important for a team, sometimes.
“But credit to the boys, credit to the technical team, the support staff and everybody, because the atmosphere always gives the boys energy to go, and here we are going out of the group stage.”
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