SA U20 coach Raymond Mdaka says he is not happy with the tactical discipline of his players, despite their impressive 5-0 win over New Caledonia in the early hours of Friday morning.
Amajita registered their first three points in the U20 World Cup, thanks to goals from Siviwe Nkwali, Shakeel April, Lazola Maku, and a brace from Siviwe Magidigidi.
Dominated the opposition
As expected, the reigning African champions dominated the game on all fronts against the competition debutants. Amajita did, however, miss glaring goal-scoring opportunities that left Mdaka frustrated on the touchline and after the game.
“We will always appreciate and welcome a win, but as a technical team, we are not happy. I think it’s a game that, yes, wanted us to win, but we wanted to win with goals. And we’re not happy in terms of the technical discipline of our players,” Mdaka said.
“We have our agreements, they know how we’re supposed to play, but somewhere, somehow, we lost several opportunities where we were supposed to score and move forward quickly.
“So, those are the few things that I think we need to improve and allow our players to be professional in terms of how they behave either in attack or in defence.
“Honestly, this is a team that I think we should have scored even more than nine or ten goals on, which would assist and put us at an advantage when we go and play the next game,” he added.
Striker elated to bang in goals
Apart from Mdaka’s unpleasantness about the scoreline, striker Magidigidi said he was happy to have scored and helped put the team in a good position in the group.
“I am happy that I scored two goals, but most importantly, I am happy that we won as a team and showed character,” Magidigidi said.
“We had to win this game because it will help us going forward with the points and goal difference. The USA has more goals than us, and I think we could have scored more, but we are playing against them next [on Sunday], and we will do our best to also win that game.”
The result means that Amajita are now on number three and level on three points with France, who beat them in the opening game. France lost 3-0 to Group E leaders USA in the early kick-off.
