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Amajita looking to emulate Banyana and Amajimbos
“He ( Helman Mkhalele) can put the icing on the cake by making it a treble for our national teams. That will be an early Christmas present for our soccer loving public,” said Safa president Danny Jordaan.
Helman Mkhalele, coach of the South Africa U-20 team. Pic: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Having assembled a strong squad for the 2020 men’s Cosafa Under-20 Championship, Helman Mkhalele is expected to steer his Amajita charges to the title after Amajimbos and Banyana won their respective edition of the tournament recently.
Mkhalele has roped in players who play their football in the top tier, like Oswin Appolis of SuperSport United and Keletso Sifama of Kaizer Chiefs.
The team also has former Bidvest Wits player Rowan Human, who now plays for Israeli side Beitar Tel Aviv, on loan from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Human captained the now dissolved Wits reserve side and got regular game time in the first team towards the end of the season.
And now, after seeing Amajimbos and Banyana lifting the titles, South African Football Association President Danny Jordaan says it’s time for Mkhalele and his troops to end the year on a good note by lifting the Under-20 Cosafa title to make it three cups for South Africa this year.
“He (Mkhalele) can put the icing on the cake by making it a treble for our national teams. That will be an early Christmas present for our soccer loving public,” the Safa President told Safa.net.
‘’Our national teams have done really well this year and we expect this trend to continue in 2021.”
South Africa have a chance to redeem themselves after they lost the final last year to Zambia.
They begin their tough Group A campaign with a clash against Zimbabwe at the Wolfson Stadium on Thursday. That game will be followed by a clash with Lesotho on December 6 and a game against Mozambique two days later.
Group B, meanwhile, consists of Malawi, Comoros, Zambia and Namibia.
The top sides in each pool, as well as the best-placed runner-up advance to the semifinals, while the two finalists will earn a place at the 2021 Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations.
Amajita have a good record in this competition, having lifted the cup right times already.
Mkhalele will be eager to see the side going on to lift the trophy and most importantly, to qualify for the Caf Under-20 Afcon in Mauritania.
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