The South African under-17 men’s national team will be eager to put their defeat to Morocco in their opening match of AFCON U17 2023 behind them and switch focus to COSAFA rivals Zambia in the second game of the tournament at the Stade Mohamed – Hamlaoui on Wednesday.
While Amajimbos were beaten 0-2 by Morocco on Sunday evening (30 April 2023), Zambia also suffered defeat to Nigeriain their opening match and will come into this meeting equally desperate for all the points.
The two sides last met in the COSAFA U17 men’s tournament (in December 2022) where the Zambians claimed victories in the group stages (1-0) and in the final (1-0).
Coach Duncan Crowie’s side will go into the match seeking revenge but more importantly, they need the three points that will be at stake if they are to go further in the competition.
Crowie said his players are well aware of the mistakes they made against Morocco and what they need to do to fix them against the Zambians.
“I think it will be a very open game tomorrow because both teams need to win if they want to progress in this tournament. Both team will be looking to go forward and creating opportunities in hope that they score goals,” Crowie said.
“In Zambia I see a different opponent from Morocco. The Moroccans were very structured, sat at the back and waited for a counter-attack. Zambia is different in that they want to go forward and they score goals.”
“We know exactly what Zambia is all about and even if they have different personnel, the coach is the same and most likely the tactics will be the same.
“We have an idea of what they are about and that’s a plus for us, having played twice against them recently,” the coach said.
“We will definitely try not to lose against them for a third time, but it will be a very difficult game.”
“We showed the players on video all the good things they did and we have brought the belief back into the team. Their faces are totally different now and there is a lot of optimism. We conceded soft goals against Morocco and definitely these are things we would rarely see again,”
“Offensively of course we can do better because we created so many chances but we were not calm before goal,” the tactician stated.
| SAFA/ ZamFoot |
