Team build up for Zambia tourney

NATIONAL U20 coach Thabo Senong has attributed Amajita’s qualification for the African U20 Nations Cup to the support from the PSL clubs.

Amajita will play at next year’s tournament – known as the African Youth Championships (AYC) – in Zambia from February 26 to March 12.

Senong believes releasing players early for camp by PSL teams helped a great deal in their qualifying campaign that they sealed with a 5-0 aggregate win over Lesotho on Saturday.

“We had all the best players in camp and it’s all big-ups to the PSL because they cooperated. I think one of the reasons was the availability of players.

“Every time we have our best players, the team looks much better. PSL teams have always released the players early.

“This has helped the coaching staff prepare better,” he said.

Senong, who doubles up as Bafana Bafana and under-23 assistant coach, added: “We brought in the right players and had a balanced team. Our ultimate goal was qualifying, but to do that we had to ensure that we did not concede goals. We had players who could also help the team when we had to defend.”

To prepare for next year’s AYC tournament, Senong said Amajita will feature at the Durban U19 tournament that starts on Thursday, as well as at the Cosafa U20 Cup in December.

“The immediate plan now is the Durban U19 tournament where the core of this team is not only just going to play in an international tournament but to get enough exposure.

“After that, we host the Cosafa under-20 tournament and that is our priority [to win].

“I believe these tournaments will help us produce a team that will go to Zambia and hold its own.”

The semifinalists at the youth continental championships in Zambia will book their places at the 2017 Fifa U-20 World Cup in South Korea from May 20 to June 11.