The South African Under-20s go to the global stage to compete against the best in the world as African champions.
Amajita are in Chile, South America for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup.
South Africa made history when they reached the final of the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 28 years.
It did not end there, they went on to clinch their maiden Afcon trophy when they beat Morocco 1-0 during the final at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt.
In captain Tylon Smith, Kutlwano Letlhaku, Mfundo Vilakazi, Asekho Tiwani, Fletcher Smythe-Lowe, Luke Baartman and Siyabonga Mabena to mention but a few, Amajita have enough fire power to set the tournament alight.
Now, Amajita are preparing to kick off their World Cup campaign in Group E against European giants France tomorrow night.
The game will kick-off at 10pm (SA time).
The young South Africans have also been pitted against the US and debutants, New Caledonia.
Sunday World takes a brief look at what lies ahead for Amajita and the dangers that their opponents may pose to them.
France:
France coach Bernard Diomède also announced his World Cup squad on the same day as Amajita coach Raymond Mdaka.
Diomède assembled a relatively strong 21-man squad, with many currently plying their trade at top clubs in Europe, such as PSG, AS Monaco, Real Betis, Marseille, just to name a few.
However, that should not faze Mdaka nor his young troops, as Bafana Bafana proved at the Afcon in the Ivory Coast that local players in the PSL can go pound for pound against European-based players.
New Caledonia:
New Caledonia will be making their first appearance in the U20 World Cup and will surely be a tricky opponent to plan for in the competition as little is known about them.
The squad of the islanders from the South Pacific is mainly composed of players who took part in the 2023 Fifa U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.
New Caledonia happens to be a French territory, so they may just succour each other and share tactical ideas.
“In terms of analysing our opponents, I think that is one of the areas we are good at in terms of our performance analyst that we’re working with, Tinashe [Mukandatsama],” Mdaka said during their send-off celebration hosted by sponsors Honor.
“If I can tell you, already, even before we came for the first camp, already we had clips for all the teams that we’re going to play against. So, we have the information about other teams.”
United States of America:
By the time Amajita and the US face off in their last game of the group stages, the road to the knockout stages would probably be clear for both teams.
The US is no stranger to the World Cup stage and will look to build on its history of success at the U-20 World Cup as the only nation to reach the quarterfinals of the last four tournaments and one of just two nations to qualify for the last six editions alongside New Zealand.
Coach Marko Mitrović’s side qualified for the World Cup with a runner-up finish at the Concacaf Men’s U-20 Championship in Mexico last year.
