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South African U17 men’s national team coach Vela Khumalo says they can’t wait to take to the field against Bolivia in their opening match of the FIFA U17 Men’s World Cup that gets underway in Qatar on Monday, 3 November.
The clash takes place at the Aspire Zone Complex in AL Rayyan in the capital Doha. Amajimbos have been drawn in Group A against the South Americans, Italy and hosts Qatar.
“We brought ourselves here, and we want to see ourselves doing more of the talking on the field, doing it for the country and doing it for ourselves and the players. It is long overdue, we have been waiting for this moment, we are here and we want to do our best,” said Khumalo after their final training session on Sunday.
“Our first game is against Bolivia, and South Africa is blessed with talent, so we are going to showcase that against them. We are raring to go, we are in a good space, hopefully the boys will deliver – we are blessed with talent, and that talent is going to help us.”
Khumalo is no stranger to high pressure youth competitions. Among his many successes, he has lifted the 2020 and 2025 COSAFA U17 titles, qualified the U17 Men’s team to the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 2021, 2024 and 2026, as well as securing tickets for the FIFA U17 Men’s World Cup.
“This is the destination, this is where every coach in the world wants to be – at the World Cup, no matter whether it’s a Club World Cup or it’s the national team World Cup. This is the ultimate. The nerves are there but then again, we are playing with human beings, so we are all having nerves, it’s just how you manage your nerves,” added Khumalo.
For the first time ever in the history of the competition, 48 (forty-eight) teams will be taking part in the tournament – up from 24.
Germany are the defending champions.
South Africa will be making their second appearance at the U17 World Cup following on the footsteps of former Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki who was in charge of Amajimbos at the global tournament in Chile in 2015. It will be the first time they face Bolivia.
“We have seen a few of their video clips when they were qualifying. They finished third in their group, but this is the World Cup, it’s a different ball game and you cannot take things for granted. We know how we want to play and technically we’re good, and I also think even the weather itself is going to play a role where we need to manage the game. But we want to give it our best shot and leave a good mark here,” added Khumalo.
“And I want to thank the South Africans for their support, thank the coaches in development as they made life easy for all of us, mine is to just push the team together. But the talent is good and thank you South Africans, this is for you guys.”
Kickoff between Amajimbos and Bolivia is at 14h30 South African time(15h30 local time in Qatar).
SOURCED FROM SAFA WEBSITE.