Amajita head coach Raymond Mdaka says his side knows what to expect from Colombia in their last 16 FIFA U20 World Cup clash.
South Africa face Colombia at Estadio Fiscal on Wednesday night for place in the quarterfinals after finishing second in Group E with six points while the latter were unbeaten in Group F which they topped with five points. This is South Africa’s 12th appearance at the global showpiece in this division while Colombia’s highest finish was in 2003 where they won a bronze medal.
Mdaka said the African champions have studied Colombia and are aware of their impressive defensive record but have also seen areas to exploit.
“We’ve been watching Colombia since we knew we were playing them,” Mdaka told Safa.net.
“They are a smart team, very disciplined in terms of their system, in terms of their formation 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. 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.”
The game kicks off at 21:30 SA time.
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