Exclusive: South Africa Must Go Direct Against Italy at U17 World Cup, Says Youth Coach Mgobozi

Youth coach Sikhosiphi Mgobozi praised South Africa for showing character against Qatar in the FIFA U17 World Cup and called for a more direct approach in Sunday's all-important clash against Italy as 'Amajita' look to secure qualification.

Soft goal conceded

South Africa conceded a soft goal in the opening three minutes of the encounter, handing Qatar a big opportunity to take an early lead in the counter.

Defender Liam Marthinus found himself under immense pressure with the Qatar forward pressing him in the box, with the defender eventually giving in to the pressure.

Randburg AFC U19 coach, Skhosiphi Mgobozi, in the Gauteng Development League, having worked in the same environment with the majority of the South Africa U17 squad, including Marthinus, reckons that it was a lapse in concentration on Marthinus’ side.

Mgobozi insists that the youngster works on the issue in the days leading up to South Africa’s third and final group stage fixture against Italy on Sunday.

“Qatar must be given their flowers for how they pressed Liam. They closed his left foot because he's very left-footed, having coached against him as well. You can see that they've closed his left foot, and then he's taken a touch inside and was probably a bit indecisive and not expecting that much aggression in terms of the press, and then he took a deep touch,” Mgobozi told SportsBoom.co.za.

“If he looks back again, he probably will see he's got enough time to go back to the keeper and just restart and actually draw them out as he did against Bolivia."

“I think it was a lapse in concentration, but also a lesson for the young man that if he's not on his favourite left, he's got to make decisions quicker, especially at the international level. It’s only going to get more difficult now because I'm confident we'll get out of the group."

“From here it's Italy and then you're in the knockout stages where there's no second chances. It might be a blessing that it happened in a game like this, so he can go back, look at the clips back and just work now over the next two days on scenarios where he is squeezed.”

Character within Amajita squad

Mgobozi praised the character of the team, having been able to bounce back from a goal down very early into the match, to level the score courtesy of Emile Witboois’s second goal of the tournament.

“I think one thing about this team that's definitely clear is there is character. They don't give up. They don't stop running. You look at the game against Bolivia, a setback with ten men, but they go on to still score another two goals with ten men and play well,” Mgobozi said.

“Even against Qatar, they played in an environment where we didn't have a lot of support, and they just stuck to their guns, continued to compete, and I think that's positive."

“It would have been easy to pack it in and give up at that point, but now they're showing great mental strength and resilience from a performance point of view. I think everybody will know that wasn't our best game, but if we can still grind out to draw in a game like that, I think it's positive."

Changes against Italy

South Africa currently sits second in the group standings, behind only Italy, which is two points ahead. The two teams are set to clash on Sunday, in a match that will decide the fate of South Africa and Qatar, as they are the only two teams fighting for the remaining qualification slot.

Mgobozi asks for a more direct approach against Italy and warns that the European giants will pose a much greater threat than Bolivia and Qatar.

“What I'm really looking forward to is how we adjust our game slightly. I think against Bolivia and Qatar, we set out to control the game on the ball, and against Qatar, we found it quite difficult because Qatar really sat deep, sat in a lower block and frustrated us and didn't give us anything centrally, which is a lesson for us,” said Mgobozi.

“I think at times we try to force the balls to the middle, and we had success against Bolivia because they were a lot more open and adventurous, but Italy is going to need a different approach. Maybe we need to be a bit more direct."

“That's something we possibly need to look at, actually being a bit more direct and making them defend a lot more in their box because I think you saw against Qatar when we did get turned over in midfield, we were very vulnerable on the counter-attack, especially with the speed, and the Italians will have a lot more quality across the pitch. They’ll have a lot more pace and power across the pitch, and it'll be a lot more complete side.”

The encounter between South Africa and Italy will get underway at 17.45 SAST on FIFA+ and SABC+.