The South African Under-20 Men’s National Team, Amajita, will not underestimate New Caledonia when the two teams meet in their second match of the 2025 FIFA Under-20 Men’s World Cup in Chile.

Raymond Mdaka’s charges got their Group E campaign off to a shaky start, narrowly losing 2-1 to France on 29 September, while New Caledonia suffered a devastating 9-1 defeat at the hands of the United States of America.

Amajita and their French-speaking opponents will do battle on Friday morning (1am SA Time) Thursday night 8pm local time at Estadio El Teniente in Rancagua.

“We will go there with the mentality of getting maximum points so that we know in our match against the USA we can also try to get maximum points. The France game was a wake-up call for us, so we are looking forward to the clash against New Caledonia.

"We don’t feel the pressure, but we experienced this in Egypt (losing the first game), so this was just a wakeup call,” said midfielder Lazola Maku.

“We respect all teams even though they (New Caledonia) lost 9-1. We should not go there with that mentality of saying we can also beat them with the same scoreline, as they much as they lost heavily, we respect them and what they are capable of.”

The South Africans got off to a good start against France in the opening stages of their fixture but lost the grip of the match, allowing the Europeans to dictate matters, which ended with a defeat.

“I think the nerves got the better of us, after all it’s the World Cup stage, but we will go back and fight for maximum points,” added Maku.

As matters stand in Group E, the USA and France lead the group with three points each – the Americans are top due to a superior goal difference. South Africa and New Caledonia are yet to collect points, lying in positions three and four respectively.

The USA and Les Bleues face off in an earlier kick off time of 5pm and a draw between them could throw the group wide open.

Amajita have a clean bill of health with coach Mdaka spoilt for choice for his starting 11.