Top NFD scorer in Da Gama ’ s U23 squad
NATIONAL First Division leading goal scorer Thabiso Kutumela has been included in the national Under-23 training squad that begins a camp in Johannesburg today.
The 22-year-old player from table-toppers Baroka FC has been in remarkable form this campaign – netting 10 times in as many starts to surge ahead on the second-tier scorers’ list.
Kutumela is one of 11 players from the NFD named in coach Owen da Gama’s SA-based players as he attempts to spread his net wide ahead of the 2015 Africa Under-23 Cup of Nations in Senegal that runs from November 28 to December 12.
Cape Town All Stars have three players in the squad – goalkeeper Kyle Peters, and midfielders Stanley Mokgoka and Paseka Mako. That is more than any other team, with Orlando Pirates providing midfielders Gift Motupa and Menzi Masuku, and Ajax sending Riyaad Norodien and Abbubaker Mobara.
The 19-year-old Denwin Farmer from SuperSport United has got the nod, with the side to be captained by Mamelodi Sundowns playmaker Keagan Dolly when they take on the full Tanzanian national side in a friendly match today. There are five players in the squad with Bafana Bafana experience – Dolly, Motupa, defenders Kwanda Mngonyama and Tebogo Moerane, and forward Siphelele Ntshangase.
The squad will be in camp until Saturday under the gaze of Da Gama, who has been released from his duties as assistant coach to Bafana for their World Cup qualifier against Angola in Benguela on Friday.
SA play hosts Senegal in the Under-23 Cup of Nations opener on November 28, before a meeting with Zambia on December 1. Their final Group A game is against Tunisia three days later.
The South Africans need to finish in the top three in the com- petition to book a place in 2016 Rio Olympics, where they could join the senior women’s national side Banyana Banyana, who qualified last month by beating Equatorial Guinea over two legs. The Under-23 Squad GOALKEEPERS: Mbulelo Ngqobe (Vasco da Gama), Ricardo Goss (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Kyle Peters (All Stars) DEFENDERS: Tshepo Rikhotso (Bloemfontein Celtic), Kwanda Mngonyama (Maritzburg United), Thabo Makhele (Witbank Spurs), Refentse Mphele (Highlands Park), Zitha Macheke (Chippa United), Denwin Farmer (SuperSport), Grant Bruchhausen (Highlands Park), Tebogo Moerane (Bidvest Wits) MIDFIELDERS: Abbubaker Mobara (Ajax Cape Town), Gift Motupa (Pirates), Stanley Mokgoka (All Stars), Keagan Dolly (Sundowns), Nkanyiso Zungu (AmaZulu), Paseka Mako (All Stars), Deolin Mekoa (Maritzburg), Riyaad Norodien (Ajax) FORWARDS: Menzi Masuku (Pirates), Siphelele Ntshangase (Black Leopards), Thabiso Kutumela (Baroka FC), Julius Likontsane (Spurs).