West Africa tour for U-20s

The South African Under-20 team will embark on a West African tour as part of their preparations for next year’s Under-20 Afcon in Niger, Amajita coach Thabo Senong (above) has revealed.

Senong believes facing West African teams will prepare his players for the competitive youth tournament, where there will be six countries from West Africa.

“We are planning to have a West African tour in November before we go to Niger,” Senong said on the Safa website.

The Amajita coach says nothing has been confirmed regarding which countries they will play friendly games against but insists the tour is vital, with their main objective being to qualify for the 2019 Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Poland.

“No friendly matches have been confirmed yet, but our team manager is working hard to ensure we get those matches,” he continued.

Amajita will be looking for an improvement in Niger, with the side having finished the previous tournament, held in Zambia, in fourth place. Senong’s team lost 1-0 to the Zambians in the semifinals, before losing the third-place play-off 2-1 to Guinea.

The tournament starts on February 2, and the top four nations will represent Africa at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup.

Amajita have made eight appearances in the competition and their best showing was finishing runners-up in Morocco in 1997.