South Africa Under 17 Boys started their quest with victory after defeating Egypt on the opening day of AFCON in Morocco.
Kaizer Chiefs’ Neo Bohloko scored a brace of penalties with Cape Town City starlet Emile Witbooi and Simphiwe Mlondo of Mamelodi Sundowns also finding the back of the net at Casablanca’s Stade Larbi Zaouli.
SA Under-17 coach Vela Khumalo has praised his young soldiers for not changing how they playing as he suggested that it is important to keep their SA culture of football.
Khumalo said “I think it’s a big win for us. It was one of those games that we said we wanted to start well and importantly, I think we kept to the process, the way we want to play, our style of play.
“Looking at the mentality of the boys, it was amazing as well. We are doing it for our fellow South Africans.
“I think the strategy of Egypt was to come at us very early, playing through their two wingbacks [Mohanad El Shamy and Adham Farid on the left and right sides, respectively] and they got goals, but we had to react immediately.
“It was a surprise approach from them, but we kept to our style of play … we want to keep the ball and this is how South African football is all about, keep the ball but go forward and be constructive.”
SA top Group B and Burkina Faso have collected maximum points as the two teams boast equal points and goal difference.
On his conclusion Vela Khumalo revealed that he was not worried that much about total dominance as he was looking to keep the ball more often.
He said “I think we didn’t show inexperience in this because we kept the ball … we wanted them to deplete the energy and we forced them to run.”
Amajimbos are left with two fixtures against Cameroon and Burkina Faso which will take place on Thursday 3rd April kickoff set at 16:00 and on Sunday 6th April kickoff set at 18:00.
Each two winners(1st and 2nd) from each group out of the four groups in Morocco will automatically qualify for the U-17 World Cup, to be staged in Qatar later this year.
As things stand Amajimbos will need two wins or one victory and one draw to secure their ticket for the U17 World Cup.
BY LUCKY SEANEGO
