Faced with AFCON qualifiers, rusty Amajita haven’t played a match in two years

By Velile Mnyandu
15th July 2024

Exactly three years after FIFA first complained about the South African Football Association's (SAFA) lack of focus on preparing its junior national teams for international competitions, the SA U20 national team has been without an international match for two years.

In FIFA’s ecosystem report on South African football in 2021, they highlighted junior national teams only assembling on the eve of qualifiers as the source of the country's failure to qualify for international competitions.

The new Amajita team is coached by Raymond Mdaka, formerly of Marumo Gallants, and SAFA Technical Director Walter Steenbok talks about the challenges they are facing.

"Yeah, you are right Velile, the last time they played was in 2022 but this group that we are talking about at least played last year in the AFCON 2023. We are going to have a camp next month the under-20 because I think I will share with you the other challenge that we have is that we have almost 60 players who qualify for the under-20,” Steenbok said.

“So, we had a camp already for 57 players in South Africa the under-20. So, we have whistled down that group to 26 players now that coach Raymond and his team are happy with. So, the next camp that we'll have next month in August for the under-20, we want to play two matches against Lesotho."

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The new Amajita team is comprised of players who played in the U17 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Algeria last year.

The idea was to mix the local players with some overseas-based players in the camp, which didn’t take place last month.

Steenbok says they have lined up international friendlies next month, but there’s also no guarantee that the players will be released by their clubs with the new season kicking off.

"And also integrate at least 20 of those players you know who are based in Europe and who are based in America. So, it's been a bit of a challenge but we hope to play two matches next month and of course also towards the end of the month, have another longer camp as we prepare for the COSAFA which has been penciled for the first week of September to prepare for the COSAFA under-20 which is a qualifier for the AFCON under-20."