South Africa's Under 17s have booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations (afcon) following Burkina Faso's win over Cameroon on Sunday night.
Amajimbos opened their Afcon campaign with a dominant 3-2 win over Zambia. However, qualification hopes were left hanging by a thread on matchday 2 when South Africa suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Nigeria by the same score-line.
Duncan Crowie' chargers eventually qualified through the best third-placed rule following Burkina Faso's 2-1 win over Cameroon on Sunday night, with South Sudan already disqualified from the tournament over age falsification.
The teenagers are now on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup to be played in November 2023, granted to the semi-finalists of the Afcon. Standing before them are fellow quarter-finalists Senegal.
12': ?? 31': ???????? Describe Vicky Mkhawana's first-half brace in one word ?? #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 pic.twitter.com/gCzXGNvTEl
— #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 2023 ?? (@CAF_Online) May 5, 2023
The Senegalese have cruised through the group stages of the competition. They defeated Congo 1-0 on opening day before hammering hosts Algeria and Somalia by the same 3-0 score on matchday two and three finish top of group A.
"The idea was to beat Nigeria so we could go through and not wait for anybody else and as you've mentioned Senegal has got a 100% winning record in two of their three games," Crowie told SAFA media.
"This will be probably the best team that we are coming up against so, it's going to be a tough one as well."
The clash against Senegal will be played on Wednesday at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Baraki, Algeria.
Kick-off is at 18:00.
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