The national U20 football team (Amajita) are back in camp for a second training camp in preparation for the 2017 CAF U20 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The tournament will be held in Zambia from 26 February to 12 March 2017 in the cities of Lusaka and Ndola.
The South Africans, sponsored by Burger King, are in Group B alongside Cameroon, Senegal and Sudan and will be based in Ndola, while Group A consists of hosts Zambia, Egypt, Mali and Guinea and will play their opening matches in Lusaka.
The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for 2017 Edition of the FIFA u20 World Cup to be hosted in South Korea in May.
Amajita head coach Thabo Senong is excited by the number of players who reported for camp this week, though goalkeeper Darren Johnson of Ajax Cape Town has been released due to a minor injury picked up in the first training camp.
Meanwhile, SuperSport United goalkeeper Mondli Mpoto has been replaced by Mamelodi Sundown’s Khulekani Kubheka, while leading striker Luther Singh will join the team later this week. Zama Rambuwane, who plays in Israel, has now been replaced by Masilakhe Phohlongo from Ajax Cape Town.
‘It’s all systems go and we should have some more productive sessions in the coming days. This is the second phase of our scheduled camps and we have lined up a few more friendly matches for this week before making our way to Zambia for the weekend’s international friendly,’ said Senong.
Amajita travel to Lusaka on Thursday for an international friendly match against Zambia.