Amajita’s Nations Cup hopes boosted by upsets in qualifiers

SOUTH Africa now know their opponents at next year’s CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations after the weekend’s final round of qualifiers – and there are some big names missing.

Thabo Senong’s side breezed into the finals in Zambia next year after a 5-0 aggregate success over Lesotho.

They must reach the semifinals at the Nations Cup to claim just a third ever appearance at the Under-20 World Cup in South Korea next May‚ and some notable obstacles have been removed from their path.

Defending champions Nigeria are no longer a threat after they were ousted in the preliminaries by Sudan in remarkable fashion.

Leading 2-1 from the away leg‚ Nigeria looked on course but lost 43 at home in the second game after Sudan netted a winner seven minutes from time to beat their opponents on the away goals rule.

Nigeria have often been a thorn in the side of the South Africans.

Also not going to the finals in Zambia are west African powerhouse Ghana‚ who lost 3-2 on aggregate to Senegal.

They won 1-0 at home in the second leg‚ but despite laying siege to the Senegal goal‚ could not get the second goal they needed to grab the tie on away goals.

Guinea sealed their spot with a 2-1 aggregate win over Gambia‚ while Mali ousted Burkina Faso 2-0.

Egypt romped past Angola with a 5-0 success to suggest they will be a real threat at the finals‚ while Cameroon complete the line-up along with hosts Zambia after a 3-1 aggregate win over Libya‚ despite losing the second leg that was played in Tunisia.

Amajita will now await the draw for the finals‚ which are scheduled to be played from February 28 to March 12 next year.

The eight teams will be split into two groups of four‚ with the top two in each pool advancing to the semifinals and winning a place at the World Cup.

South Africa’s best finish was as runners-up in 1997.