South African Under-17 national team coach Duncan Crowie says his team will be aiming to win the Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria and gain automatic qualification for the FIFA World Cup later this year.
Crowie announced a formidable 21-man squad that will represent the country in the 12-team continental tournament that kicks off on the 29th of this month. South Africa is pitted against Nigeria, Zambia and Morocco in a tough Group B.
The team’s ultimate goal is to get to the World Cup via AFCON. They made their only appearance at the FIFA World Cup in Chile in 2015. Coach Duncan Crowie says his side is going all out to win AFCON and qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
“The most important thing is remember if you reach the semi-finals the last four teams will qualify for the World Cup and of course everybody is coming to the tournament to win it and of course that’s our objective,” says Crowie.
The team comprises of players from 14 different teams also including six overseas-based players. The coach says integrating the players was effortless.
“We had that selection camp, we selected a few to join us on a camp that started on Monday with six foreign based players, when we met on Sunday, I could see the camaraderie. Somebody mentioned to me about orientation mixing foreign and local players, what I have noticed there was no group from this side and from that side it seemed like a team immediately,” Crowie explains.
The Bafana Bafana legend Crowie says they will do thorough research on their opponents prior to the tournament.
“Our analysts have been working on that vigorously and we have seen few clips already and we have roped in Dean from FIFA to assist us in being prepared for the games, we will know something about our opponents but we know something about Zambia,” Crowie elaborates.
Captain Benjamin Wallace reiterated the message from his coach.
“All the boys are really excited now to get going and we get to start heading towards that goal of qualifying for the world cup and ultimately winning the tournament as well,” says Wallace.
SA will play three friendly matches in the next couple of days to prepare for the tournament.
