The SA Under-17 national men’s team were dumped out of the COSAFA Men’s Under-17 Championship in humiliating fashion.
Amajimbos were thumped 7-0 by Zambia at Mpira Stadium on Monday to see them exit the tournament after just two matches.
Miguel Chaiwa, Joseph Banda, Moses Mulenga, Charles Mumba, Peter Chikola and Rickson Ng’ambi, who scored a brace, did the damage as Zambia ran riot.
It was the second consecutive defeat for Amajimbos after they were thumped 3-0 by hosts Malawi in their first match on Friday.
They will now look to salvage some pride when they face Eswatini in their final group match on Wednesday at Kamuzu Stadium.
Interim coach Vela Khumalo, who watched helplessly from the technical area as his side were put to the sword, was understandably disappointed.
“I’m actually not happy with the score margin, we should have done much better,” said Khumalo.
“Any coach would be disappointed after watching their team concede a record 7 goals. No coach would be happy with that even though we knew we were playing a team that had been assembled for a long period of time compared to us.
"We only had one session to prepare before coming to the tournament. That is not an excuse, we need to congratulate Zambia because they stuck to their plans."
Khumalo, though, did not want to be overly critical of his boys saying they would take some valuable lessons from the experience.
He said they will now look forward to next year’s edition where he promised they will give an improved showing.
“It is a learning curve for us, as I have been saying, we are preparing for next year,” added Khumalo.
“We will be a completely different team next year, same players but different approach. They will have gathered some valuable experience by then.”
