Madagascar a closed book but Mdaka banks on SA U23 quality in qualifier match

By Velile Mnyandu
14th November 2026

The South African U23 national team coach Raymond Mdaka says Madagascar are a bit of a closed book to them ahead of their 2028 Los Angeles Olympic qualifier clash this afternoon.

The first leg of the second round of the AFCON U23 and Olympic qualifiers takes place at Lucas Moripe Stadium today, and Mdaka says they're confident in their team’s ability to outfox Madagascar.

Madagascar were scheduled to play Comoros in the previous round, but they couldn’t, so they got a walkover instead, another reason why Mdaka and his team couldn’t find anything on them.

"Honestly, Madagascar is a very closed book, we have tried with whoever including our senior team analysts because Madagascar was not there in 2024 when we were playing COSAFA in Mozambique because this is the age group," Mdaka said.

"We checked almost everywhere where we thought we could find something, it remains a closed book but other than that we always have a way as the technical team and coaches, to at least find something. Which is a little bit difficult but we always have a way out."

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The SA U23’s had two quality preparatory matches for the opening leg of the qualifiers, after playing a strong Algerian side in back-to-back matches in the last international week.

One player who wasn’t there is Shandre Campbell, a player they know very well from their 2024 group and who is also part of the Bafana Bafana team.

Mdaka says the Belgian based attacker offers them a lot upfront.

"I've been with Shandre from our COSAFA years, it's correct and I think we know Shandre much better. What we have been doing with the technical team, if you check, most of our attacking parts are the players who can play either as a winger or as a 10,” the coach explained.

“You have Mfundo [Vilakazi] who at Chiefs they play him as a winger, we play him as a 10 sometimes. You have Kutlwano [Letlhaku] who plays as a winger at Sundowns, sometimes playing as a 10.

“It helps us in terms of movements upfront, to say at any moment where we attack, you are able to do interchanges and they can always give you results."