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Johannesburg - The South African Men’s Under-20 National Team Head Coach Thabo Senong believes that playing against Italy will be a big challenge but attaining three points is a must.
South Africa faces the Azzurrini in their second group D match of the 2017 Fifa U20 World Cup currently taking place in Korea Republic. Italy and South Africa are bottom of the group after losing their opening matches against Uruguay and Japan respectively.
“The Italians will be a tough side to beat but we need to collect the three points if we want to stay in the tournament. We will have to make use of our chances because anything less than a win will leave us in trouble, so a win will be a morale booster ahead of our final group stage match. The arrival of Frosler and Mokoena will really assist as we can now plan better for the match with no restrictions of missing players” said Senong.
The Amajita mentor has the full complement of the selected 21 players to choose from for the clash against Italy.
“We have a clean bill of health and that makes us happy. First choice goalkeeper Mondli Mpoto sat out of training yesterday (Monday, 22 May) with a touch of flu but he seems fine. Frosler has settled in and we are monitoring Mokoena who arrived last night. I trust that he will have had enough time to rest by the time we go for our final training session – if he manages well and is cleared by the medical team, he will also be considered for the starting eleven,” added Senong.
“We will be very strategic in our approach when we select the players who will start. Grant Margeman, who scored our opening goal against Japan, is sitting on a yellow card and that will come under consideration when we discuss the starting line-up.”
The clash between South Africa and Italy is scheduled for Wednesday, 24 May 2017 and will broadcast live on SuperSport 4 and 9.
Kickoff is scheduled for 17h00 local time (10h00 SA time).
Uruguay will host Japan in the second match of group D at 20h00 local time (13h00 SA time).
Both fixtures will take place at Suwon World Cup Stadium.
Read the story on SuperSport.com.
