By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
The South African U17 Men’s National Team (Amajimbos) beat Lesotho 3-1 in their second friendly match on Sunday morning at the UJ Soweto Campus as the team continues with preparations for the COSAFA U17 Championships to be held later this year.
Coach Khumalo’s charges were dealt with a shock in the first half as they went into the break trailing 1-0. But they quickly rectified their first half complacency with a goal in the 45th minute by Neo Bohlako to get them back into the game, and then ran havoc over Lesotho from that point onwards.
Lebogang Dlamini scored the second goal for South Africa in the 56th minute after a beautiful cross from Emile Witbooi. Witbooi himself got onto the score sheet with a beautiful goal in the 61st minute.
Vela Khumalo made several substitutions during the match to give the whole squad game time. He said that they need to try different combinations and allow the players to understand the national philosophy that they are building on.
“I believe it was good that we conceded early in the game because this gave the players a wake-up call after winning 4-0 in the first match on Friday. At halftime we spoke to them about the many chances they missed in the first half and believe that they took this to heart.
“We managed to get all the players some game time, and we are taking many positives from this week-long camp, and the two international friendlies we played. We believe we are on track with our preparations for the upcoming COSAFA U17 Championships and believe that we have the core of the team after almost a year of building this squad,” he said.
Amajimbos have completed their week’s camp and will regroup later this month ahead of the Talent Development Scheme (TDS) 6 Nations Tournament in Cote d’Ivoire from 2 -8 September 2024.
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