Amajimbos coach Duncan Crowie is proud of the way his players reached the final in their COSAFA Region 5 Games in Lilongwe, Malawi. The former Bafana star believes Amajimbos showed real progress in qualifying for the ACON U17 finals.
Unfortunately, Crowie’s under 17 national team suffered a 1-0 defeat to Zambia in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations COSAFA qualifier tournament on Sunday night. The coach was disappointed to lose in the final but was also happy that his team achieved their objective of qualifying for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations, which takes place in Algeria next year.
Both South Africa and Zambia won their respective Semi-finals and secured their tickets to the continental tournament in April next year.
“This is not the result we wanted. Everybody plays to win, especially in a final. Walking off with the trophy and the gold medal is what everybody wants to do in football or any other sport for that matter,” Crowie told the media.
“But I am proud of the boys. They did very well throughout the tournament. Many people did not expect us to get this far. We put on a very good show against Zambia in the final and gave them a run for their money. We could have got a goal towards the end of the match, but it was not to be.
“We will take the positives from the tournament, reinforce them, then look at the negatives and see how we can improve going forward.”
South Africa dominated the tournament awards and Mamelodi Sundowns bound striker Siyabonga Mabena won both the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament after finishing with nine goals. His teammate Gennaro Johnson scooped up the Golden Glove award for best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Crowie then called Mabena to remain humble and not change his attitude.
“He must remain the person he is, because he is a quality player, and this will always be with him,” continued Crowie.
“He must not change as a person. We have seen so many top players ending up falling by the wayside due to a lack of a good attitude. I hope he stays the same person he is because he has a very good attitude right now.”
