Aaron Mokoena: The U15 national schools championships crucial for the new SAFA Academy

Mokoena is one of the scouts at the U15 championship which is taking place at Sturrock Park in Wits University this weekend. 

READ: Cole Alexander's take on the interest around his teammates Oswin Appollis and Thabang Matuludi 

All the nine provinces are represented in a tournament that is hosted jointly by SAFA and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. Mokoena says this tournament will also make the selection process easy for them, as they are monitoring the best players from the provinces.

''Look it is important. That is where we had missed the point back then. Before you get to the under-17, we needed to have the basics sorted, this age group - 2009s and 2010s, that is where we need to fix. Now seeing that is happening, the under-15 SAFA Academy is coming through and the under-15 national is coming through that is going to help us a lot. As you are aware from 2026 there will be the under-17 World Cup. I am  happy that the Sport department and SAFA are making it happen and this is what we want to see as coaches,'' said  Mokoena.

The U15 national schools championship is catering for both boys and girls and the winners will represent South Africa at the CAF African Schools Championships to be hosted by Namibia next month. As they continue with the section, Mokoena shares the specifics that they are looking for when selecting the players.

''For us actually, it has always been per departments, goalkeepers that have the ability to be comfortable on the ball with skills and abilities we can work on. The South African philosophy, so playing from the back - those are the goalkeepers we want. Of course the height plays a big role, yes in defense the left and right full backs  - players that can be able to go forward and put in crosses and come to defend, those are important for us and communication as well. Central defenders for me - it is all about the height, playing against African countries - strength is important,'' added Mokoena.

 Meanwhile, Mbazo is also on cloud nine as they have finally managed to call up a host of overseas based boys, who have been in the radar of the U17 and U20 selections and will be part of the Amajimbos and Amajita squads going forward.

''It is very important, especially when we go to participate in the African Cup of Nations, we need a strong squad. I strongly believe that, not writing off our domestic league or players that are playing in our Academies in South Africa but I believe that once you play abroad you come back with massive experience, so being able to invite these boys to come and represent the country. Because, we do receive calls from the agents and the parents saying our children want to represent the country,'' he concluded. 

Mokoena, who is the most Bafana Bafana player with 107 international caps, was also an assistant coach to Duncan Crowie in the AFCON U17 tournament in Algeria last year, says the overseas based players will bring the much-needed international experience to the junior national teams and also become more competitive.