Nigeria have teased U-20 Afcon semi opponents Amajita as ‘junior brothers’

Amajita coach Raymond Mdaka ranks guiding the team to their fifth Fifa U-20 World Cup as the biggest achievement of his career.

He vowed his side will give their all in Thursday's U-20 Africa Cup of Nations semifinal against Nigeria, though they have already achieved “the bigger goal” of sealing qualification for the World Cup in Chile in September and October.

Mdaka said Amajita shared a hotel with Nigeria and the banter started between the Flying Eagles and the South Africans before they were pitted against each other in the semis. 

Substitute SuperSport United striker Thabang Mahlangu, 19, scored the winner four minutes into added time of the first half in Monday night's 1-0 quarterfinal win against the Democratic Republic of the Congo at Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia, Egypt.

Mdaka glowed with pride afterwards, saying the qualification was the high point of his career.

“I've achieved some special things as a coach. I took Marumo Gallants to the Confederation Cup semifinals [where they lost to Yanga of Tanzania in 2023] and I won the Cosafa Cup with this team [in October],” the coach said.

“But I regard taking this team to the World Cup as the highest feat of my coaching career. Qualifying a team for the World Cup is the biggest thing in football.

“It wasn't an easy route, especially because we were in a group of five teams, which means we had to play four matches and we passed that test by qualifying for the quarterfinals. And when we got there we knew we were one step away from going to the World Cup, so the boys gave their all — and here we are.”

Amajita face long-standing rivals to South Africa in football Nigeria in their semifinal at Suez Canal Stadium (5pm SA time). Mdaka said the Nigerians, staying at the same hotel in Ismailia, have teased Amajita, calling them “junior brothers”.

“In all our games we play to win and we will continue with that mentality against Nigeria. Yes, we've achieved the bigger goal, but we can't let Nigeria walk all over us.

“We are staying at the same hotel and already they're saying we're their junior brothers, so you know it will be a tough game, especially with the rivalry.”

Mdaka surprisingly did not use two of his key players in Kaizer Chiefs' Mfundo Vilakazi and Kutlwano Letlaku of Mamelodi Sundowns against the DRC. The Amajita coach said the decision was “just tactical”.

Thursday's later semifinal sees hosts Egypt meet Morocco at Cairo's June 30 Stadium (8pm).

Amajita's U-20 World Cup record

• 1997 (group stages, Malaysia)
• 2009 (last 16, Egypt)
• 2017 (group stages, South Korea)
• 2019 (group stages, Poland)

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