THE SA UNDER-20 national men’s team coach, Thabo Senong, says he is proud of efforts put up by his players during their U-20 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final, despite having lost 1-0 to Senegal in Niger.
Amajita fell agonisingly short of qualifying for their second ever Afcon final after their narrow defeat to the Young Lions of Teranga on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, they still have a chance to improve on their previous fourth place finish in the last edition, which was hosted in Zambia in 2017.
But they will have to get past Nigeria in the third place play-off, after they also missed out on a spot in the final following their loss to Mali on penalties.
The match will take place at the Stade General Seyni Kountche Stadium in Niamey tomorrow at 5.30pm (SA time).
Amajita’s solid defence could not save them against a strong Senegalese attack who are the tournament’s highest scorers.
Senong’s charges, on the other hand, managed the least amount of goals out of the four semi-finalists with their toothless attack, having only secured two gaols heading to the knockout stages.
While they managed to get away with it in the group stages, their inability to create clear goal scoring chances came back to haunt them in the knockout stages. Senong has not been aided by the absence of star striker Lyle Foster, who was not released by new club Monaco for the tournament.
The former Orlando Pirates youngster was the top goal scorer at the Cosafa Youth Championships in Zambia last year.
But despite the defeat, Senong is full of pride for his boys and the fight they put up against the 2017 finalists.
“Tough luck to my boys,” said Senong.
“I’m still proud of them. We played good football with good organisation, but we got tired in the final 20 minutes. We tried to bring some fresh legs, but it didd not work. We didn’t have power in the attack to create chances, but I’m still proud of them.”
Even though they would have loved to be crowned African champions, Senong’s boys had achieved their primary target, which was to qualify for the Fifa U-20 World Cup set to be staged in Poland in May.
South Africa, Senegal, Mali and Nigeria will represent Africa at the world showpiece event.
Added Senong: “I’m sure we’ll improve going forward, especially with the World Cup coming.”
