Raymond Mdaka: Amajita can still qualify despite tough start

South Africa U20 head coach Raymond Mdaka has urged calm after Amajita’s opening-day setback at the FIFA U20 World Cup, insisting his side still has every chance of progressing to the knockout stages.

Mdaka’s men suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to European giants France in their Group D opener on Monday, leaving them under pressure heading into their final two matches. 

Despite the disappointment, the coach remains optimistic that Amajita can turn things around against New Caledonia on Friday before finishing the group stage against the USA next week.

“I think we have a good account of ourselves but it’s obviously not the result we were looking for and if we got a draw maybe then we would have somewhat of a cushion to get to the second,” Mdaka said. 

“But we’re left with two games and we’re gonna sort ourselves out and see how best we can approach the next game, we believe we can be able to make a mark.”

The coach stressed that the performance, rather than the result, offered encouragement. 

“If you play a game where you don’t create opportunities then you have a problem, but if you play a game where you create chances, it says that we can score at any time,” he explained. 

“It’s a game of results and we’ll see what we can do. There’s only three games for each team and we can still move forward and qualify.”

One of those chances fell to winger Shakeel April, who cut a gritty figure after the game. The Cape Town City youngster admitted he should have converted but vowed that the team would bounce back. 

“I could’ve scored today because we had our chances and that was the difference today, they took their chances but for sure next game we’re coming, we won’t back down, we’re South Africa,” April declared.

Portugal-based goalkeeper Fletcher-Lowe echoed both his coach and teammate, underlining that there were more positives than negatives despite the defeat. 

“There is definitely a lot of positives from the game, we were very good in many aspects, we just made a few errors that decided the result,” he said. 

“But it also means there’s extra pressure for the next game and I can’t wait till Friday so we can come back here and show what we can do.”

With two group matches still to play, Amajita remain firmly in the hunt. Now, it is about turning promise into points and ensuring their chances don’t go to waste.