Amajita coach has high hopes

Johannesburg - South Africa's Under-20 stand-in coach David Notoane says the sky is the limit for South African football as he leads his youth team to the Commonwealth Cup in St Petersburg, Russia.

He attributed the national teams' successes to the improvement in the country's soccer structures at the highest level.

"Clearly the changes of leadership within the SA Football Association, followed by appointments within the technical team, have seen positive results in all our teams," Notoane said on Wednesday.

"The qualification of Bafana Bafana, Amajita and Amajimbos for major continental tournaments means the future of the national teams looks good.

"The performances of the teams have been fantastic and, therefore, the coaches deserve praise for jobs well done."

Defensive positions

Amajita went down 3-1 to a Qatar select side over the weekend, on their way Russia to compete in a tournament which they were using as part of their preparations for the African Youth Championship in Senegal in March.

Notoane said there was work to be done to improve their performance after how they performed in Doha.

"We need to tighten certain defensive positions and work better as a unit at the back.

"We had good moments in attack but did not create enough clear opportunities, so our tactical work will focus on these aspects."

He said the team's primary goal was to qualify for the U 20 World Cup which would be held in New Zealand towards the middle of the year.

"That is non-negotiable. We then want to qualify as champions of Africa of course. We have the talent to go all the way and, with the right mentality, we can achieve this goal."

The former Santos SuperSport player said South African teams were known for their technical ability on the ball as well as for being quick and agile.

"We can improve in utilising possession positively in winning games as we see within the current Bafana Bafana team.

"The national teams are competitive and the next step is to qualify for the World Cup stages. The experience gained by the junior players will be valuable for the pool of selection available to Bafana Bafana for the World Cup 2018 and World Cup 2022."