South Africa's Under-20 (Amajita) stand-in coach, David Notoane, says finishing remains South African teams' biggest headache after his young team were held to a 1-1 draw by Lithuania in St Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday.
"With the way my team dominated the encounter, I will consider a draw as two points dropped as opposed to winning a single point," Notoane lamented afterwards.
The match was Amajita's opening Commonwealth Cup fixture in which they are the first African team to participate in the annual tournament previously reserved for the former Soviet Union countries.
"In any opening match, one would rather take a point than lose the match. We should come back a more ruthless side when we take on Tajikistan on Sunday.
"Finishing is something I will instruct my boys to do for Sunday's game. We scored the opening goal and instead of going for the kill, we went to sleep and we were duly made to pay a hefty price."
SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan watched from the stands and attended the opening ceremony on Friday, where Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, opened proceedings.
"They will improve as the tournament progresses. The showed some real glimpses of quality although matches are counted by goals scored," Jordaan said.
"But I am very hopeful goals will come and I want to wish them well."
Lithuania coach Narbekovas Arminas, meanwhile, said he was stunned and impressed by South Africa's neat touches and speed on and off the ball.
"I had never seen them in action before but boy, they are a delight to watch," he said.
"They are so gifted and comfortable and I think my team was lucky to escape with a point."
Jordaan was expected to fly to Equatorial Guinea later on Saturday, where he is part of the local organising committee for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
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