Senong plays down the pressure as SA prepare to take on Italy

Coach Thabo Senong avoided putting more strain on his charges by playing down the pressure they are under to win their second Fifa Under-20 match against Italy.

At the end of their final training for this match, the coach said: “We are taking it game by game. Each game is important. There are still six points to play for.”

Amajita face a wounded Italy at the Suwon World Cup Stadium today at 10am South African time, which will be 5pm here.

Just like the South Africans, the Azzurinni lost their first fixture 1-0 to Uruguay, who will be Amajita’s opponents at the Inchion World Cup Stadium come Sunday.

Amajita were beaten 2-1 by Japan after leading 1-0 at half time.

They have a number of aspects to improve in their game if they want to proceed to the next round.

First, Amajita’s finishing in the first game left much to be desired. Two clear chances came their way after scoring the opener but both went to waste.

Goal scorer Grant Margeman made this observation after the game: “We allowed them to come back at us after scoring. We also made a lot of opportunities in the first half.”

He also decried the lack of communication, which sounded like a serious indictment on the skipper Tercious Malepe.

“The back four were not communicating with us. They did not tell us which way to go or give us alternatives so that we could make the right moves.”

Senong – who told his players that they were all captains as “there is not one captain in this team” – made two changes to the team.

Reeve Frosler, who only arrived on Saturday, will start at right back in place of Tendo Mukumele and Liam Jordan who came off the bench in the first match, gets the nod ahead of Keletso Makgalwa.

Another late arrival, Teboho Mokoena of SuperSport United, will start on the bench.