South Africa’s youngsters qualified for the world showpiece after their second-place finish at this year’s African Youth Championships, and are continuing their preparations for October’s World Cup with a number of friendly internationals and practice matches.
Nteski’s charges are taking on Mali’s U-17 side – the very same team they lost to in the Final of the AYC – in a friendly as a curtain raiser to Bafana Bafana’s clash against Nigeria on Sunday, yet delayed their flight to Nelspruit to participate in a practice match against Pimville Cameroon on Friday morning, which they won 6-1.
“We have a new squad to that which participated in the 2015 CAF CAN in Niger, and we as the technical team felt it necessary to access the new players in a match situation hence the friendly this morning,” Nteski said.
And the U-17 mentor is happy with his side’s preparations thus far, as he aims to build a formidable team for the World Cup in six months’ time.
“We are very impressed with the level of talent these boys have,” he said. “We are looking at a huge pool of players as part of our preparations for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup and we are confident that come October in Chile we will be a nation to be reckoned with.”
South African fans can see the U-17 side in action at Mbombela Stadium at 12:30 on Sunday, three hours before Bafana Bafana’s fixture against the Super Eagles.
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