Amajimbos will participate in the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be hosted by Chile from October to November, and that will be the first time South Africa’s boys make their appearance at the tournament.
However, Ntseki explains that his main worry has nothing to do with being the debutants and therefore going into unknown territory.
“Look, we are talking of an age-restricted tournament. It means that 99 percent of the boys who will be at the World Cup will be there for the first time, so they are not different from our boys,” he tells this website.
“Another thing is that with the qualifiers and the AYC [African Youth Championship] I think we have gained a lot of experience in terms of getting our boys to the international standard of football.”
Ntseki’s main concern has to do with the mental aspect of the game, but he is confident the boys can cope.
“Let us not get it wrong … South Africans are very talented, but the only thing from my own assessment is that we need to develop a high level of mental strength. Our players need to be mentally very strong.
“In Niger we showed a high level of self-esteem and that’s what carried us until we played in the final. As soon our boys leave the dressing room, they must have the belief that they are going to win and immediately you tell yourself that as a player, you are likely to do well. We should stop looking down on ourselves and then we will do well.”
Ntseki also gave us an update regarding preparations for the tournament and he admits he faces a challenge regarding the boys’ education, hence the plan to camp during the school holidays.
“The challenge that we are faced with is that all our boys are school going and we have kept them out of class for a very long time. So we don’t want to be on the wrong side of things with the parents, with the teachers and the department of education.
“What we have done is draw a programme that will be executed during the school holidays and the idea is to have that programme circulated to the parents, teachers and the department so they can have a buy in into our programme.