Confident Khumalo backs Amajimbos to shine against Japan in U17 World Cup last 16

After the conclusion of the group matches yesterday, Amajimbos, who finished second in Group A, were pitted against Group B winners Japan, who beat Portugal and Morocco to finish the group with seven points from three matches. 

Surprisingly, the Japanese played a goalless draw against the whipping boys of their group, New Caledonia, and Khumalo believes that they have what it takes to beat them.

"Look, we are very, very happy with the draw, it could have gone either way but we have an assignment now, we are not going to sleep. All I know about them is that they went in with seven points, they won two games and then they drew the other one,” Khumalo said.

“They have one influential player there, number 10, it's a decent team but already, I think we are going to do our assignment and see how to go about it but I'm optimistic, I think we will go through."

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Amajimbos will play Japan at the Aspire Zone, in Doha, on Saturday at 17:30. 

It’s the first time that the South African national U17 teams have reached the knockout phase of a World Cup tournament. 

What makes Khumalo confident is that almost all the infield players have had game time so far in the tournament, something he feels will be key against Japan.

"Look, I think we did pretty well considering the fact that we  had a lot of players injured and that on its own has helped us. I think now we are having a clean bill of health, every player is available and they are raring to come for the competition and it's going to be very, very critical and hectic for us to get good players to start the game and finish it up,” the coach explained. 

“Everyone has played, they all played, they all have minutes of the World Cup, so it is good and it will be a good headache for us to say, who do we choose, who we are not choosing for this important game. 

“It will be good for the boys, it will be good for the country, it says we are doing something right with the country. I don't really see us not going to the last 16, I think we will go through and through."