SAFA President Danny Jordaan is beaming with pride after the SA U17 team created their own history by booking their place in the U17 FIFA World Cup last 32 round.
Despite going down 3-1 to Group A winners Italy in their last group match, Amajimbos had beaten Bolivia 3-1 in their tournament opener before holding hosts Qatar to a 1-1 draw to finish second and progress to the next round.
Speaking to SAFA.net, Jordaan expressed how Amajimbos have received plaudits from some of football’s greats as well as lessons the team has learnt at the ongoing global showpiece.
“You can see this team can play football. Arsene Wenger said so in Morocco already after he watched them and he said this is a very good team. Even the FIFA observers at the game were very impressed and said this team can play,” Jordaan said.
“The quality of both teams – Italy and South Africa – was very high. Of course South Africa made a few mistakes and it’s suicidal if you make mistakes at this level, but I’m sure that they’ve learned through that process.
“But if you look at our team and you look at the U17s of Italy you find some of those players are already playing in the upper levels and the top leagues in Italy, while in South Africa we are not giving these boys a chance at the higher levels. But I think that they’ve grown through this tournament and become a better team and better individuals in the team.”
Amajimbos have been pitted against winners of Group B Japan and will face either Venezuela or North Korea should they progress into the last 16.
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