Soccer News of Friday, 29 August 2014

Source: © SAFA

We must attack the Lions - Magqwaka

South African National Under-20 captain Ayabulela Magqwaka says Amajita will go for an all-out attack in their 2015 African Youth Championships (AYC) third round second leg qualifier against Cameroon scheduled for Sunday at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Kick-off is at 3pm. Amajita went into this match with a slight psychological advantage following their hard-fought 1-1 draw in the first leg. Eteme Adamou put the hosts ahead in the second half while Siyanda Ngubo equalised for the South Africans in the 62nd minute.

The focus for Amajita is now firmly on the second leg as they hope to capitalise on that important away goal. The South Africans looked sharp and focused as they went through their fifth training session at the Ranch Resort in Polokwane on Thursday morning.

“We will give it our all on Sunday. That is all we have. We are on the brink of making history, and it lies in our hands to ensure that this happens. We cannot afford to sit back and let the Cameroonians come at us. We will attack from the first whistle and create as many chances as possible like we did in Cameroon, but this time around we need to ensure that all that creativity is converted into goals,” said captain Ayabulela Magqwaka.

The players will also have an extra motivation to do well against Cameroon as this will be coach Shakes Mashaba’s final match as their coach.

After the match, Mashaba will switch his focus to rebuilding Bafana Bafana and some of the Amajita youngsters know they have a shot at securing selection to future Bafana Bafana matches.

The overall winner between South Africa and Cameroon will qualify for the 19th edition of the African Youth Championships which will be held in Senegal from 8-22 March, 2015.

The top four at the AYC will represent Africa at the 2015 Fifa U20 World Cup tournament in New Zealand.