A Luther Singh hat-trick secured a comeback win for the South African juniors, who were deserved winners in their opening Group B clash.

Senong was proud of his charges for earning the three points against what he believes was a strong Cameroon outfit.

“Cameroon is a good team and displayed good intensity for the full 90 minutes, so I must say we won against a very good team,” he said at the post-match press conference.

“We played very well, and relied on our technical speed as our players are highly technical and use their pace properly. We won the match as we applied our tactics very well and concentrated the entire match.”

Despite the impressive display, Senong says he’s not getting carried away, refusing to entertain talk of winning the trophy and qualifying for the U-20 World Cup in South Korea as he remains focused on his side’s next group stage game against Senegal.

“We are not here to talk about winning the tournament or qualifying for the World Cup, but our focus is to approach one game at a time,” he said. “Now, our entire focus will be on Senegal. We won’t talk about the semi-finals or winning the tournament because we are working with youngsters, who can sometimes be inconsistent.

“The players played well, but we need to push them into the right ‘performance zone’ to make sure they just focus on Senegal. We will analyse their strengths and weaknesses.”

Kick-off on Thursday is set for 18h00.

Grab the latest edition of KICK OFF Magazine (Issue 479) - on shelves nationwide - where Thabo Senong outlines the goals and ambitions of his Amajita side at the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.





