By
As the assembled national U20 men’s team’s first camp heads toward the end, Amajita head coach Raymond Mdaka believes that now they are starting to see their team shaping up.
Speaking to the media at the end of their training session at the Robertsham Callies United in Johannesburg yesterday, Mdaka says the 46-man camp has given them enough time to assess the pool of talent they can select from.
This group is a mix of exceptional talent in the Premier Soccer League (PSL), Reserve League and also players from the Amajimbos squad who were at the U17 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) last year.
"We tried to check mostly the players who are playing in the DDC and the players that are playing in the PSL locally, those who are around, those who are regulars in their teams before we could maybe go outside but the most important thing was for us to put them together,” Mdaka said.
“We had a group of about 46 players and we wanted to check them closely to see who best qualifies in terms of representing the nation in the under-20. Very exciting, it also assists in terms of the preparation because it makes it shorter. They're already playing, the fitness level is okay, tactical awareness is also there so it's only for us to put it on how we want them to play, so it makes it very easy with these kinds of players.
“We started only last week on Thursday and when people are arriving there will always be challenges here and there but started properly on Friday but where we are now, we could say we can have a team that can be able to play."
It was the first time that the U20 had assembled since the team last played at the COSAFA Cup tournament in 2022 in Eswatini, which was also the qualification process for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON). Mdaka says a national team should not be inactive for this long.
"Correctly, so, because we should have a continuity of some kind in terms of preparations, in terms of playing but if the situation is like as it is now, we just have to forget about the past and focus on what we can do best.
“Fortunately, we have got a camp now, we might have another camp somewhere around June and also a camp into the competition around August. So, I think we have enough time that could help us to be able to prepare a team that can compete."
