Amajita end 28 year wait for continental final

Amajita haven’t been to the U20 final since 1997 in Morocco, where they lost 1-0 to the hosts, minus a suspended tournament top goal scorer, Benni McCarthy. 

Ironically, this will be the same opponent in the final on Sunday at the 30th June Stadium in Cairo. 

Speaking to SABC SPORT after a hard-fought one-nil win over Nigeria in the semifinal, head coach Raymond Mdaka once again praised the character and tactical maturity of his players.

"These are always very difficult games, but I think we have an excellent group of players. They've got character, but they also have this ability to adjust to the opposition's tactics, even if they are under pressure," said the cheerful coach.

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Mdaka had tweaked his starting lineup for the semifinal, and he also fielded the 17-year-old Kagiso Madiba from the Stars of Africa academy, the youngest member of the squad, for the first time in this tournament. He explains the idea behind these changes.

"It was within our plan to refresh some of the legs because we don't have a big pool of players for this tournament. We had our contingency plans in place, and we identified some positions that may have to be refreshed," explained Mdaka. 

At half-time, Mdaka and his assistant Karabo Mogudi tweaked their tactics and brought on striker Jody Ah-Shene to play more as a 10, and the firefighter Shakeel April also came on, with his work rate. 

Meanwhile, Amajita goalkeeper Fletcher Lowe produced his third clean sheet in six matches in this tournament, and he played a big role in denying the Flying Eagles a goal.