Amajimbos coach gets free hand at World Cup

SOUTH African Football Association (Safa) CEO Dennis Mumble says they will not put pressure on coach Molefi Ntseki to reach the latter stages of the Fifa U17 World Cup in Chile this month.

South Africa will line up against the world’s best U17 players in the South America-held event and Mumble said the focus should rather be on building the players for the future.

Amajimbos will get their Fifa U17 World Cup campaign under way in about three weeks time and Mumble said they want the players to be competitive and to learn from the experience, considering it’s the first time the team has qualified for the global competition.

Amajimbos – who are in group E with Russia, Korea DPR and Costa Rica – will play friendly matches against Brazil, Chile and New Zealand before the tournament kicks off.

“For junior tournaments we don’t want to have that [a mandate]. We are building experience for our senior teams,” said Mumble.

“Yes, at some point down the line, the more we participate in these type of competitions, I think we will be able to set certain mandates. I think they must go there and be themselves and express themselves. They must go on to the pitch with the intention of winning.

“We are building these boys for the future. This is probably going to be the core of the [Bafana Bafana] squad in 2022.

“The matches against Brazil and New Zealand will help the players prepare for the tournament.”

Mumble said Safa had given their all to make sure Ntseki had everything he needed for the competition. The association was happy to add Mandla Ncikazi to the technical team as an analyst at the request of the head coach.

Amajimbos coach Ntseki said: “We are hoping to do well. For us we are looking beyond the group stages. We know that anything can happen once you are in the knockout stages.”