"I think we are going to do our assignment," says the Amajimbos coach.
Amajimbos head coach Vela Khumalo is confident that his team will beat Japan and reach the round of 16 of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
The South African Under-17 men’s team will play the Japanese in the round of 32 match at the Aspire Zone, in Doha, on Saturday (kick-off is at 3,30pm).
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Khumalo’s side reached this stage of the competition after finishing second behind Italy in Group A,
“Look, we are very, very happy with the draw, it could have gone either way but we have an assignment now, we are not going to sleep. All I know about them is that they went in with seven points, they won two games and then they drew the other one,” said Khumalo.
“They have one influential player there, number 10, it’s a decent team but already, I think we are going to do our assignment and see how to go about it but I’m optimistic, I think we will go through.”
Selection headache for Khumalo
With his team having a clean bill of health and no suspensions, Khumalo is facing a selection headache ahead of the Japan clash.
Khumalo, however, says the selection headache is a welcome relief after playing the group matches with injuries.
“We’re having a clean bill of health and that’s a plus for us. I think it came at the right time. We had injuries through and through, but at the moment all the players are available. The red card [Sive Pama was sent off against Bolivia] is also out,” Khumalo told SAFA media.
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“So, we have a good competition for this and we are going to establish who we are going to play and plan around so we can have good players to play against Japan.”
