After inspiring Amajita to their first U20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final in 28 years, defender Tylon Smith says they will get the job done against Morocco on Sunday.
South Africa advanced to the final of the U20 Afcon after Smith scored the only goal of the match to beat Nigeria 1-0 during their semi-final encounter on Thursday.
Amajita will now face one more hurdle on their mission to win the Afcon for the first time when they go up against the Atlas Cubs at the Cairo International Stadium.
Morocco had also booked their place in the final with a narrow 1-0 victory over North African rivals Egypt.
The two sides have now set up the repeat of the 1997 final during the era of Benni McCarthy, Matthew Booth, and David Kannemeyer, amongst others.
Smith, who was voted man-of-the-match after yet another solid performance against Nigeria, expressed his delight and said they will go all out in the final to be crowned African champions.
“We went through a lot – they had a lot of training camps, and I think personally this means a lot for us – at this age, playing in a World Cup, not everyone can achieve what we have, and I feel like it means a lot to the boys,” Smith said after the win over Nigeria.
“We just have to keep on winning, just keep on winning and go full out because we want to make the people in South Africa proud, and I think we will.”
Ahead of the competition, the 20-year-old made it clear that they were not going to the Afcon to add numbers – they were in it to win it.
“We just want to go there, give our all, and fight to win the tournament,” Smith said.
The final will kick off at 8pm. Nigeria and Egypt will tussle for the bronze medal in the 3rd and 4th place play-off.
When these teams made the semifinals, they automatically qualified for the U20 FIFA World Cup in Chile later this year.
Visit SW YouTube Channel for our video content
