Amajita remained winless at the U20 World Cup after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Korea Republic in their second Group F game on Tuesday evening.

The young South Africans opened their campaign with a heavy 5-2 defeat at the hands of South American giants Argentina.

Korea also went down in their opener as Portugal scored in the seventh minute before holding out for a 1-0 win.

Amajita coach Thabo Sengong made a number of changes to his starting lineup, with Monaco striker Lyle Foster the most notable victim.

Korea started off the brighter of the two sides, but Amajita began to find their feet after the opening 15 minutes and began to threaten their opponents’ goal with Siphesihle Mkhize and James Monyane forcing a couple of good saves from set pieces from the Korean goalkeeper.

South Africa were enjoying a good spell of play and were rewarded for their endeavours with a golden chance 10 minutes before the break, but Keenan Abrahams nodded wide from just six yards out.

0-0 at the break with Sengong’s charges enjoying a positive first half.

The Koreans, though, came out with renewed energy in the second half and looked set to grab control of the game.

It didn’t take the Koreans long to start creating chances, and they came close to opening the scoring with 60 minutes gone when Jeong Hojin rifled the crossbar from around 20 yards out.

Amajita were under the cosh as their opponents continued to push forward in search of the opener, and they eventually got their goal in the 68th minute when defender Kim Hyunwoo rose highest before nodding into the far end of the goal from a corner.

Korea almost put the game to bed with 10 minutes to go when Taejun Park forced Khulekani Kubheka into a smart low save to keep his side in it.

Amajita struggled for fluency in the second half, but couldn’t carve out any openings in the final minutes as they went down 1-0 –  and are now on the brink of exiting the World Cup.

South Africa next face Portugal on Friday evening in their final group game.