SA U20s hold key to the future

THERE should be plenty of interest at the Tsakane Stadium in Brakpan today as South Africa’s U20 side take on their Kenyan counterparts in an international friendly that will give a glimpse into the future of the country’s national teams.

Coach Thabo Senong has compiled a squad that he hopes will form the backbone of the side that will travel to Zambia for the African Youth Champions starting in February‚ from where they will attempt to qualify for the Fifa U20 World Cup in South Korea.

Senong has already stated that he sees this squad as forming the basis for the U23 team that will attempt to also qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

So there should be a lot of interest in players who are certainly not household names for South African fans.

It will also give local supporters a first glimpse of the much talked about teenager Luther Singh‚ who has been making year.

He has played before for the U19 national side‚ but up until now has been overlooked by the other agegroup teams.

The squad is captained by Orlando Pirates defender Tercious Malepe‚ and includes five players from the Kaizer Chiefs development – defenders Happy Mashiane and Given Thibedi‚ midfielders Wiseman Meyiwa and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo‚ as well as striker Itumeleng Shopang.

Senong has had to do without some players due to clubs failing to release them and end of year exams.

But he says he believes 70% of this group will feature at the upcoming Cosafa U20 Championships that will be played in the North West province from December 7-16.

“The match against Kenya will be important for us as it will be the first time we have played in months‚” Senong tells Times Media Digital.

“All of this is vital preparation for the Cosafa Cup [Cosafa U20 Championships]‚ waves in Europe this past which in turn is preparation for the African Championships‚ where we hope to qualify for the World Cup.

“To be able to play in a tournament like the Cosafa Cup is great for us because we know we will have at least three games to work together‚ and as many as five if we make the semifinals.”

Kenya were disqualified from the preliminaries for the African Youth Championships having been found to have fielded five over-age players in the first leg of their first round tie away in Sudan that finished 1-1.

They have kept the core of the remaining players from that squad and also held extensive trials to rebuild the team ahead of the South Africa clash.

“We cannot do away with the whole team that we had before.

“We have been working on it based on age. Five players were in the bracket of 1996‚ so we are targeting the players especially in the 1998 bracket‚” Kenya coach John Kamau told reporters.’’— TMG Digital