South Africa’s much-improved defence will make them tough to beat when they meet Guinea in the Caf Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations third-place playoff at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka on Sunday.
Hosts Zambia were taken by surprised by a far more organised Amajita defensively from the group stages‚ who took Junior Chipolopolo to the 109th minute before succumbing to Edward Chilufya’s headed goal in a 1-0 extra-time semifinal defeat.
Third-placed playoffs can be viewed as something of a wooden spoon contest‚ but this Amajita side have been so impressive in Zambia that a fourth-placed finish would seem an injustice‚ so they have much to play for.
SA coach Thabo Senong praised his players for their brave performance in the semifinal in front of a capacity 60 000 home crowd at the Heroes Stadium on Thursday night.
“I’m very proud of my boys ‚” Senong said.
“I was very happy with the attitude of the players‚ the response‚ the way we defended – we were very compact. We had two or three chances to win the game.
“The third and fourth place game is going to be tough. And I must say there is progress.
“It’s a good group of boys. I see the future looks bright for them.
“They lost against a very good team‚ and it was a very good atmosphere.
“I told them with regard to the crowd that‚ ‘Actually the Zambian people are your family’.
“There’s a strong connection between South Africa and Zambia. So I just said‚ ‘Don’t be intimidated by the fans‚ because they love football’.
“And hence we saw good football from both teams.
“It was just unfortunate to be knocked out before the final. But we will still go back to the drawing board to do better in the next match‚ to fight for No. 3.”
SA’s defence that capitulated to a 4-3 defeat against Senegal improved when Tercious Malepe dropped from midfield to partner the impressive Sandile Mthethwa at centreback in the 3-1 win against Sudan‚ with Thendo Mukumela shifted to right-back.
They had their best display making life very difficult for a Zambian attack that had scored 10 goals in the group stages to breach SA’s back four.
“I was surprised to see the way the South African gameplan was. It wasn’t easy for us to penetrate their defence‚” Zambia coach Bestone Chambeshi said.
“Our scoring rate in this tournament has been high. And a defence like that is a credit to South Africa. Although they lost‚ they put up a good fight.”
Amajita’s earlier game at the Heroes Stadium will be played at 2pm‚ but the forecast for Sunday is for an overcast maximum of 24 degrees Centigrade‚ so heat should not be a factor.
Guinea lost 1-0 against Zambia‚ drew 1-1 with Egypt and beat Mali 3-2 in the group stages. They lost 1-0 against Senegal in the semifinals.
The final‚ between Zambia and Senegal‚ kicks off at 5pm and will be televised on SuperSport 4 and SuperSport 9.
SA v Senegal is live on SuperSport 6 and SuperSport 9.
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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