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A FEW hours before Andre Ayew stuck a knife through South African hearts and sent Bafana Bafana packing in Equatorial Guinea, the future of SA football walked through the Terminal A doors at OR Tambo Airport.

It was 2.24pm on Tuesday when captain Motjeka Modisha walked out carrying the Commonwealth Cup trophy the national under-20 team, Amajita, won in Russia last Sunday. They won the competition without key players Rivaldo Coetzee, Ayabulela Magqwaka, Fagrie Lakay and Nhlakanipho Ntuli.

Just three years from now, the Fifa World Cup will be in Russia and if what we’ve seen from Amajita since December 2013 is anything to go by, airport security will have to be on high alert to manage the crowd who will turn up to welcome back Bafana from a memorable campaign at football s biggest showpiece.

Last 16? Quarterfinals maybe? Who knows? Anything is possible with this group of under-20 players, who may even form part of Bafana’s 2018 World Cup squad, if they qualify.

But right now, the focus is on the African Youth Championship (AYC) to take place in Senegal from March 8-22.

Amajita are in group B with Ghana, Mali and Zambia, and need to make the semifinals to qualify for the World Cup.

But they have a good chance of achieving this feat following their victory in the Cosafa Cup in 2013 and the Commonwealth Games recently.

So what makes this team so special? Attitude, says midfielder Pule Maraisane.

We re a family and a family sticks together. We’re always having meetings, without coaches, and we talk about how we need to make the country proud.”

Their never-say-die attitude was displayed in their final AYC qualifier against Cameroon last year. A goal down early on, Amajita ended up winning 32 on aggregate. Amajita are also due to play in the Olympic qualifiers this year as the nation s under-23 team, so they will gain a lot of international experience which will come in handy for when they play for Bafana.

With the right handling, they will become the next Bafana generation. Safa s vision 2022 is reliant on how well these boys are nurtured.

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