Raymond Mdaka sets sights on elite friendlies for U20 World Cup prep

The African champions were drawn in Group E alongside the USA, France, and New Caledonia in the showpiece set for Chile from 27 September - 19 October. 

This will be Amajita’s fifth appearance at the U20 World Cup, and Mdaka says proper preparation is going to be essential.

"In terms of the camp, Velile, it's something we did not prepare before we came for the draw, just for us to know who we are playing and where we are playing," said Mdaka.

"So once we are back home, possibly around next week, we'll have a technical meeting, and that will assist just in saying who we are playing and how we can prepare in terms of friendlies and the camps, etc."

Mdaka admitted they don’t know much about the USA or New Caledonia from the CONCACAF region, but he trusts his technical staff to do everything possible to find adequate information to profile them ahead of the tournament in September.

"In terms of who we're supposed to play after the draw, we always respect countries based on their qualification, we know where France is in terms of their level of football, we don't know much about New Caledonia and USA," he added.

"But we always say it's the draw, whether we like it or don't like it, we have to play them and we are ready to compete with whoever we find ourselves faced with.

"We would have expected the draw to come about in any way, but we'll try and dig deep as usual, find information about the other teams that can help us prepare."

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