U-20 AFCON: South Africa haven’t given up despite Egypt defeat – Mdaka

Photo Credit - South African Football Association.

South Africa U-20 national team coach Raymond Mdaka has remained confident they will still make it from their group despite a 1-0 defeat against hosts Egypt in their opening Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) fixture at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday.

Despite dominating the Group A fixture, Mohamed Abdallah's 62nd-minute goal settled the game in favour of the young Pharaohs. The outcome from the opener has not rattled Mdaka as Amajita prepares to face Tanzania in their second group fixture at Suez Canal Stadium on Wednesday.

To stand a chance to reach the quarter-finals, Amajita will have to get better results against Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Zambia in their next three matches.

“Yeah, we are in a group where we have to play four matches because the teams are more in numbers but then we still have a lot to play for. So, we haven’t given up to say we can’t make it because we lost the first game,” Mdaku told SABC Sports.

“We wanted to win the first game yes but we still have three more games to play and that is equals to nine points, so we’re still there in the tournament.”

After the first round of matches, South Africa are sitting last in their group with zero points while Egypt are on top with three, Zambia second with one, Sierra Leone third with one while Tanzania are fourth without a point, as they are yet to play a game.