Amajita need only a draw against Eswatini to reach Cosafa Cup semi-finals

Amajita will qualify for the Cosafa Cup semi-finals with a point against Eswatini on Wednesday, but coach Raymond Mdaka has warned his players they cannot afford to underestimate their final Group B opponents.

South Africa’s Under-20 side moved to the top of the group with six points after recording their second consecutive victory, beating Angola 2-0 at the ABB Stadium in Matola, Mozambique, on Monday. They had opened the tournament with a win over Lesotho at the weekend.

Angola are second on three points, meaning Amajita require only a draw to secure their place in the last four. The group winners and the best second-placed team will advance to the semi-finals.

The two finalists will also qualify for next year’s U20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ghana.

Mdaka said Eswatini would present a similar challenge to Angola and insisted his team would prepare in the same way for the decisive match, which kicks off at 12pm at the ABB Stadium.

“Eswatini is not different from Angola. They’ve got the physique, they’ve got good players who can run, and for us is to prepare the players the same way we prepared for this game,” Mdaka told the media after the win over Angola.

“We’ve never undermined anyone, but they are also a good team.

“As much as we respect all the teams in the group, we felt that Angola was one of the strong teams, but credit to the boys, they have done really well, tactically so and in terms of character.”

The coach praised his players for following the game plan against Angola and said they would need to produce the same determination against Eswatini.

“In football sometimes you don’t only need the plan, but you need the character, the spirit to fight on the field of play. So, we really appreciate what the boys did, but also the technical team did their job very well,” he said.

Mdaka explained that Amajita had identified Angola’s main strengths and dealt with them without losing their attacking threat.

“We knew where their strong points were and we were able to make sure that defensively we closed those strong areas they had, but at the same time not compromising our attacks. How we plan to play gives us the results that we have and also, again, credit to the whole team.”

Amajita’s result against Eswatini will determine whether they finish as Group B winners or must rely on their position among the runners-up.