South Africa’s U17 men’s football team assistant coach Aaron Mokoena has revealed that Amajimbos are not entirely ready for the CAF U17 AFCON Cup.
The tournament is due to take place in Algeria in April this year.
South Africa secured their spot at the upcoming AFCON competition after finishing as the runner-up at the COSAFA U17 Boys Championship held in Lilongwe, Malawi.
AMAJIMBOS 50% READY FOR AFCON
The former Bafana Bafana captain reckons that they 50% ready for now as they still need players with character to bring fruitful results.
“With the squad that we took to Malawi 50% are the players that we can take to the AFCON tournament,” Mokoena told FARPost.
“But we still need a bit of a character and players that will be supersubs. At this moment I would say we are 50% ready.
“Winning the AFCON is what we want. But it won’t be easy. Remember the squad we had, it took us about two weeks to put together.”
MOKOENA ADMITS THAT THE TOURNAMENT IS A DIFFERENT BALL GAME
Mokoena admits that the competition is a “different ball game” and they will need to up their game.
“AFCON tournament is totally a different ball game all together. We talking about West, East, North African countries and those are serious competitors,” he added.
“They are all aware that whoever wins the AFCON or finishes as a runner-up is an automatic qualification for the FIFA World Cup.
“But the fact that this first group that we took to Malawi managed to get that little bit of a test and taste, so now it is absolutely get them ready for the tournament.
“They know what we are expecting from them so hopefully we will get everything right when the time approaches.”
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