Saliou Dia, the head coach of Senegal, promises an all-out effort when his team faces South Africa in the quarterfinal of the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on Wednesday night at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.

A ticket to the U17 Fifa World Cup and advancement to the semifinal are both on the line in this game.

Coach Dia claims that Senegal will do whatever it takes to try to make their first Under-17 World Cup appearance. Senegal has never qualified for the tournament.

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“This is a big challenge for us, but we want to continue competing and play until the last day.

“We will make every effort to win. Despite their age, our players are really good at dealing with the pressure.

“We will try to work on our concentration to ensure we give our best,” noted the tactician.

Senegal successfully qualified for the knockout round of the competition for the first time in their history by winning all of their group stage matches without giving up a goal.

Coach Dia credits their pre-tournament planning and training for the team’s success, and he has challenged his players to keep up their commitment to hard work, discipline, and ambition.

“We want these players to keep on getting this experience and winning against South Africa means that we have at least two more matches for them,” said the tactician.

The World Cup is one of their main motivators as they get ready for the match against the South Africans, according to midfielder Fallou Fall.

“We will get into the match with the same spirit we had in the first three games and we will fight to win.

“Qualification to the World Cup is very important for us and we will try to achieve that,” he noted.

Despite the fact that they qualified as the second-best third-place team, the Senegalese assert that they would not take South Africa lightly.