BY Obakeng Maje

The South Africa Under-20 Men’s National team (Amajita) secured a 1-0 win over Nigeria in a 8-Nation International tournament game at the Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday (29 May) evening.

Solly Luvhengo’s side were on top for most of the night, but missed a string of chances before finally securing the win five minutes from time.

The game started at a fast pace, with both teams playing attacking and free-flowing football.

Around the 15 minute mark the home side began to string their combinations together, with Asive Langwe and Snethemba Ngidi prominent.

Langwe however on several occasions picked out the wrong option which resulted in Nigeria’s goal remaining unthreatened. He was not the only guilty party as some of his team-mates were too elaborate when nearing the Nigeria box.

At the other end, the Flying Eagles came close to scoring in the 22nd minute when Aminu Umar’s speculative drive from 25-yards fizzed off the wet turf and just wide of goal.

The game remained evenly contested, but seven minutes before the break the west Africans should have scored after Christian Obinna squared the ball to an unmarked Uche Agbo, but he ballooned the ball from right in front of goal.

The second half saw the home nation putting Nigeria under relentless pressure with some telling balls into the box.

Five minutes after the break and Mxabo was close to breaking the deadlock, sending a well-struck shot from the edge of the area just over goal.

In the 54th minute Ngidi showed great skill to get to the by-line, but his dangerous ball across the goal-line just failed to pick out a team-mate.

This was followed by Mbongeni Gumede just being unable to get enough power to his header from Junior Sibande’s inviting cross.

Still the chances continued to arrive as Amijita put their opponents’ defence under severe pressure from a succession of corner kicks, one such occasion seeing Mxabo’s header tipped around the post.

Then in the 69th minute Ngidi thought he had scored, only to have the goal ruled out for what appeared to be a hand-ball.

But there was to be no denying the South Africans as their constant pressure finally paid dividends five minutes from time when Kgosietsile Ntlhe played in a wonderful curling cross out deep to the back post, where a first time volley from Mxabo found the back of the net.

This proved to be the winning goal as Amajita held on despite some late pressure

BY Obakeng Maje

The final Group A match of the 8-Nation International tournament ended in 0-0 draw between Argentina and Ghana in a match played at a cold Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday (29 May) night.
The result sees Argentina being joined by South Africa as the two teams from Group A who will advance to the semi-finals on Friday night, where they will be joined by Brazil and Japan.

The first half was a tight affair with neither side able to carve out opportunities in the respective final thirds of the field.

The quality of play out on the park was excellent, but the commitment levels by both sides and the good organization of the respective units meant that goal chances did not materialise. 

Indeed it was only in the 34th minute that the first chance on goal arrived, which saw Argentine left back Lucas Rodriguez sending in a crisp drive from 20-yards which tipped the bar and kept on rising.
A minute before the interval and the Black Satellites came close to breaking the deadlock when Frank Sarfo-Gyamfi played a defence-splitting pass through to Baba Abdul, but as he slid in to try and get to the ball, it narrowly eluded him.

There was immediate goal-mouth drama at the start of the second half when for the second time in the game the South Americans found the woodwork.
This time it was Juan Vivas who ran in to get on the end of the corner but saw his shot rebound off the turf and into the crossbar.

The goal-box action continued, this time in the Argentina half as Fatawu Abdul put Baba Abdul in on goal, but the latter side-footed wide with the goal at his mercy.
The west African side suffered a set-back with 15 minutes to go when Prince Bafoe was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.

Closing action saw the intensity of the game maintained, with Ghana doing more of the attacking as they searched desperately to try and stay in the tournament, but they were unable to breach a disciplined Argentina defence.