With qualification out of the group stages set to be confirmed or denied tonight in Cairo, David Notoane says that South Africa's U23s are exactly where they wanted to be.
Notoane's side are top of Group B going into tonight's crunch game against Nigeria as they seek to book their spot in the semifinals of the competition in Egypt, with a place at the Tokyo Olympics next year up for grabs for the top three sides in the tournament.
South Africa got off to a decent start with a 0-0 draw against Zambia before a Teboho Mokoena wonderstrike gave them all three points in a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast, and now they need just a point from the Nigerians this evening in order to guarantee their progress.
Despite their position of needing just a draw, their head coach insists that they will always go for the win in every game, but admits that they'll take a point if that's all they can get.
Speaking from Egypt, Notoane said, "After the game against Ivory Coast‚ we are on top of the group‚ which is where we wanted to be going into the last game against Nigeria… The group is open‚ anyone can go through‚ anyone can go home. We will be thoroughly prepared – we know what we are up against in Nigeria‚ we know what we have to do.
"We always go into every game to get three points‚ but it has also always been our mentality that we try to take something out of every game. We took one point against Zambia‚ three against Ivory Coast.
"Whether we take one or three now will depend on the tactics‚ our strength and the strength of Nigeria. I would like to believe the pressure is more on Nigeria to come and get the result."
South Africa and Nigeria are due to get underway at 20h00 this evening.
