Neo Rapoo of South Africa © Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
Thursday Oct 02, 2025. 13:00
Amajita’s Neo Rapoo is confident that the South African U-20 side can bounce back and get their first win at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as they face New Caledonia on Thursday night.
South Africa fell to France 2-1 in their tournament opener at the Estadio El Teniente in Rancagua on Monday.
Amajita go into their second fixture sitting third place in group E and will look to make a statement against bottom-of-the-pile New Caledonia, who lost 9-1 to the United States of America.
Rapoo believes his teammates have what it takes to rebound from their loss.
“It’s obviously a big game. I know we had a slow start. I know a lot of the guys say we’ll bounce back and that’s how we started with the AFCON of course. But I really think we can bounce back,” he said.
“I feel like it was the first game on the world stage, so, but I think the guys were a bit nervous but [in the] second game and going forward we’ll definitely bounce back and get all the points we need and take the trophy home possibly.”
With the pressure and nerves of their first game on the big stage out of the way, Rapoo stated that Amajita’s talent and ability will be on full display.
“I feel like now the guys will be more relaxed and obviously they can showcase what they are made for and why they were actually selected to represent the country. So I really, really, really think everyone’s going to perform at their very best,” he said.
“I think our confidence will rise. We just have to have a good start, get goals, of course. And not that we played [badly] against France, but we just couldn’t get goals. So I just got to go with the mentality of just getting goals and just defending with our lives. And I really think we can get the three points.”
South Africa and New Caledonia will clash at the Estadio El Teniente, with kick-off scheduled for 1am CAT on Friday.
By Nic Gleeson
