MATCH FACTS: South Africa look for first Group A win as Tanzania make their bow
South Africa will hope to get off the mark at the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Egypt 2025 when they take on Tanzania in Group A at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia on Wednesday (kick-off 18:00 local time / 15:00 GMT).
South Africa lost their opener to hosts Egypt 1-0 on Sunday, while Tanzania had a bye in the opening round of games.
This is the first meeting at the TotalEnergies CAF U20 AFCON between South African and Tanzania.
This is South Africa’s fourth game against an East African country, their record in these matches reads P3 W2 L1.
Previously against East African teams, South Africa lost to hosts Ethiopia 4-1 in 2001, but defeated Sudan 3-1 in 2017 and Burundi 1-0 in 2019.
Tanzania are facing Southern African opponents at the TotalEnergies CAF U20 AFCON for the first time.
SOUTH AFRICA FACTS
· South Africa have previously lost their opening game and progressed to the final once before at the TotalEnergies CAF U20 AFCON. In 1997, they were defeated 1-0 by Cote d’Ivoire but recovered to win against Mali and Zambia in the group stages before eventually losing to hosts Morocco in the final.
· Defeat for South Africa will see them lose their opening two games for the first time since 2015 when they lost to Ghana and Mali.
· South Africa, at their last appearance in 2019, also failed to win their opening two games, drawing with Niger and Nigeria before defeating Burundi to eventually reach the last four. They ended third.
· South Africa’s record in their second group game at the finals reads P8 W3 D2 L3.
· South Africa have lost their second group game in 2003 and 2015 4-2 and 2-1 losses against Mali, they also lost 4-3 to Senegal in 2017.
· South Africa have scored in seven of their second group games at the finals, only failing to do so in their draw against Nigeria in 2019.
· Their draw against Nigeria in 2019 is also the only time South Africa have kept a clean-sheet at the finals in their second group game.
· South Africa’s previous eight second group games have produced 22 goals, with them scoring 8 and conceding 14.
· South Africa had four shots on target in their opening game loss against Egypt, one more than the hosts.
· Against Egypt in their opening game South Africa had 61.6% of the possession in the game.
· South Africa hit the woodwork three times in their opening loss to Egypt.
· In their opening game South African attempted 514 passes, completing 422 (82%) of them.
TANZANIA FACTS
· Tanzania are featuring at their second TotalEnergies CAF U20 AFCON after their first appearance in 2021.
· They failed to win a game at their debut finals in 2021, losing two games and drawing one.
· They lost their opening game 4-0 against Ghana in 2021. Thereafter they drew with Gambia 1-1 and lost their final group game 3-0 against Morocco.
· Tanzania are yet to keep a clean sheet at the finals and have never scored first in a game at the finals.
· Tanzania conceded eight goals in their debut appearance in 2021, of these goals six were scored in the first half with five of these goals coming inside the first 30 minutes of matches.
· Tanzania’s lone goal at the finals was scored in a 1-1 draw against Gambia in their second group game in 2021, Novatus Dismas scoring their equalizer in the 88th minute of the game.
· Tanzania qualified through the 2024 CECAFA U-20 Championship. They lost their opening group game against Kenya 2-1, but victories over Djibouti, Sudan and Rwanda, where they scored a collective 11 goals without reply, saw them reach the last four. A 2-1 extra time win over Uganda in the last four was followed by another 2-1 win over Kenya in the final.