Safa target Qatar 2022

Bafana coach Stuart Baxter (above) has been urged to do whatever it takes to ensure the team qualify for the next World Cup – they have not qualified since hosting the tournament in 2010.

South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan, who was in Russia for the World Cup, has emphasised on the importance of breeding young talent that will take Bafana to the next World Cup in Qatar 2022.

The Safa president travelled to Moscow with his team for the final of the World Cup between France and Croatia earlier this month.

“Now comes Qatar 2022. That is why we were talking about Vision 2022, it is a programme that ran over two World Cups. We missed this one, now we have to qualify for Qatar 2022,” said Jordaan.

Another point that Jordaan made was the fact that the players in the junior national teams have been doing well with Amajita qualifying for the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Niger. And Amajimbos are closing in on qualifying for the Under-17 level of the competition after reaching the semifinals of the Cosafa youth championships in Mauritius.

“We have been in the Under-20 World Cup, we have been in the Olympics in Brazil, of course, there are players that have been to junior World Cups and perhaps that’s where you should start looking to build the team for the next World Cup.”