South African U-20 coach target away win against Cameroon

National U20 head coach Shakes Mashaba believes a win is a must in the 2015 African Youth Championship qualifier against Cameroon on Saturday.

The match has been brought forward by an hour and will now start at 15h00 South African time, at the Stade Omnisports Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé. As Soccer Laduma previously reported, Amajita arrived in Cameroon without their luggage, which was only expected late on Friday, but the national side has managed three training sessions to prepare for the crucial encounter.

“I am happy with the way things went. The boys exerted themselves very well, but I am little concerned with the finishing but I hope it becomes a different thing on the day of the match. We are going for nothing but a win. If we can score two goals we will be comfortable, but if it doesn’t happen even one goal will help us, then we can consolidate at home,” revealed Mashaba.

He went on, “The best form of defence is to attack so we have to both defend and attack. If you are going to sit back you are inviting trouble for yourself as they will try to catch us on the breaks. So our boys will have to be spot on in terms of decision making, especially in the first 10 or 20 minutes of the match as that will be very crucial. We cannot afford to concede a goal at that stage as it will mean we have to triple our efforts and that is energy-sapping.”

Mashaba says he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition and hopes his charges will be able to execute his instructions on the day. Added the new Bafana Bafana mentor, “Fortunately we played them before with our U23 team so we know what to expect. They are big boys, very strong, they like to play balls behind the defence so we need to guard against that."

"When we are in possession we have to get the ball out of our danger zone, play in their own half, use our pace and skill because they are not very quick. We have to force them to defend with backs to their goal. We played them when we qualified for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. We drew 1-1 away and we beat them 2-0 at home.”

“We shouldn’t allow them space, in that way half our job will be done. We cannot afford to get any other result expect a win. If we draw here, then when we go back home we are in danger. We also say to our fans back home, this is the time to cheer the team because this is the last hurdle, so we need everybody’s support.”

The South Africans are expected back home on Sunday night and are scheduled to land at 23h50. The second leg will be played on 31 August in Polokwane.