Mdaka relishes Algeria test as SA U23 step-up preparations for AFCON and Olympic qualifiers

The South African U23 team will play their first U23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier next month against Madagascar, who received a free pass to the next stage, after Comoros pulled out. 

There will be another round of Olympic qualifiers after this one, and Mdaka believes that the two games against Algeria will help their preparations.

"We really felt it's a very good opportunity for us to have a friendly match before we could go for the official qualifying games. On the basis that normally when we would have loved to talk about proper progression we would be saying the group that played in the previous World Cup or AFCON or the previous group of the under 20 would be 80% or 90% of the players would be part of this team,” Mdaka said. 

“But at the same time we need to understand the dynamics and what happens in between but we felt it's a better opportunity for us to do justice to some of the players that were there who gave us good results but at the same time open a bit of an eye to look at those who were not there. 

“Those that we feel can be able to close the gaps that are there. Going forward obviously we might have given somebody a chance who was in the AFCON but you find that there are those that can do much better than him, then we proceed with him for the sake of the national team."

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Mdaka, an African champion at U20 level with Amajita, has got a selection headache in the next few days, starting with today’s game at the Dr Petrus Molemela stadium, judging by the star-studded team he’s got in camp. 

But it’s something the former Marumo Gallants head coach is used to.

"There's people who always say it's a very good headache but it's one of the difficult challenges that we are facing because there's no way you'll have to do what we call squad composition and balance it,” the coach added.

“You'll find that in one area you have more than four players but you cannot take the four players in one position on the basis that you balance the team. 

“So, we go deep into profiling to say who can do best in that particular spot and in relation to who in terms of how we want to play so it's a very good but very bad, difficult challenge but I think it's something that we'll always try to work on and make sure that we get the best combination that can be able to give us good results."