South Africa U-20 national team head coach, Thabo Senong was full praise of his charges after their impressive 3-0 victory over Mozambique in the second leg, second round of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nation qualifer played on Sunday 20th May at Moruleng Stadium near Rustenburg.

Two goals from striker Lyle Foster and another from Wiseman Meyiwa were enough for Amajita to march to the next round, where they will meet Malawi who defeated Angola 4-1 on aggregate.

The coach was elated with the chances created in the game and the fact that his boys prepared well for the match which he had predicted would be tough.

“Well done to the boys, they worked very hard to score the three important goals because we always knew that Mozambique will be a difficult team to beat as they are a quality team, so we needed to make sure that we convert our chances as early as possible and make sure we dominate other areas of the game like setplays, our defending and the transitions,” said Senong .

“It all boils down to good preparation and we have always believed in the boys and in what we are doing. But I believe with more time this team can be much better than this. With the limited time we had, we focused on the important aspects so that we can get results, because at the end of the day football is about results.”

Ahead of the final round of the qualifiers which is scheduled for July the coach hinted that he has studied the Junior Flames of Malawi and called his boys to be well prepared if they will need to be in Niger.

“Our Road to Niger is really proving to be a difficult one. We are playing very ambitious teams that have prepared well. First it was Mozambique, who were not easy to beat, now it’s Malawi, one of the teams doing well in COSAFA.

They are scoring a lot of goals, but they are also conceding. We need to work hard in our preparation to defeat them, but it will require a collective from everyone,” added Senong.

The next qualifiers are two months away, and with clubs enjoying an off-season break, Senong is worried about the condition the players will return in to face such a tough task.

South Africa will host the first leg on the weekend of 13 – 15 July, with the return leg set to be played in Malawi the following weekend (20 – 22 July).

The overall winner will qualify for the 2019 CAF Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted by Niger – where they top four countries at the 8-nation event will qualify for the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup, which will be held in Poland.