South Africa U 20 players to make a trip to Cameroon

Amajita lost 1-0 in Abidjan in their last match of the tour. They believe that they used this opportunity to prepare for the crucial 2015 African Youth Championship qualifier against Cameroon. The clash will take place on Saturday, 16 August 2014 in Yaounde.

South Africa's defeat at the Stade Robert Champroux comes shortly after their 1-0 loss to Senegal last week.

"We started on a wrong footing in the first half but second half we changed things around and we were able to play our football, and almost scored. But it was one of those difficult matches - in fact, it is the most difficult on this tour because Cote d'Ivoire has some very good players and gave us a clear indication of what to expect in Cameroon. But we also gave a good account of ourselves and we are positive going forward," said Amajita captain Ayabulela Magqwaka.

"It was a very good match where we were outplayed in the first half and came back strongly in the second stanza, which also goes to show our quality.

We have a tendency to start slow and get into the game in the later stages, which is something we must rectify. The long tour was also starting to get to the boys because travelling and playing matches every three or four days was heavy, but they held firm. Even though we lost we can be proud of our performance which augurs well for our trip to Cameroon," added goalkeeper Jethren Barr who was watching proceedings from the bench.

Defender Maphosa Modiba had this to say: "They were clearly better than us in the first half but we regrouped in the second half after the coach spoke to. We conceded a soft goal but those are things we are aware of and going to Cameroon we will use the experience we got on this tour. And I am positive that after a short rest back home we will be fresher for the qualifier and do well."

Fellow defender Madisha Modjeka echoed his words, "We learnt so much on this tour and I want to believe we achieved our objective of coming here. We would have loved to win at least one match, but unfortunately things did not go our way. Even though we lost two and drew two the performance of the team is something to be happy about because we have improved a lot from our first performance against Burkina Faso, and I believe that will give us an edge when we face Cameroon.

"The whole team has to be commended for their display throughout this tour, we did not win any match but there is a good sign that we have gelled as a team. Cote d'Ivoire was very strong and with fatigue setting in one would have expected a walkover for them but we stood our ground and shows we have grown as a team and achieved our objective of coming here to West Africa," concluded striker Tshepo Liphoko.