Pitso Mosimane and SA U-20 coach Raymond Mdaka have weighed in on Amajita’s exceptional AFCON triumph in Egypt, where they clinched the title against Morocco in a memorable final.
Gomolemo Kekana’s breathtaking second-half goal at the June 30 Stadium in Cairo on Sunday night secured the U-20 AFCON trophy for SA.
Amajita’s historic AFCON victory marks their maiden youth continental title, placing them among recent first-time champions like Senegal in 2023.
This win also shattered their long-standing jinx against North African teams, overcoming a sequence of five prior single-goal defeats.
SA’s solid defence proved crucial to their success, with Fletcher Lowe’s tournament-leading 24 saves highlighting Amajita’s strength at the back. He walked away with the Goalkeeper of the Tournament after keeping four clean sheets. In addition, Tylon Smith earned the prestigious title of Best Player of the Tournament for his crucial contributions in leading Amajita to their historic first continental championship.
Despite scoring only nine goals throughout the campaign, each one proved vital as they narrowly defeated DR Congo, Nigeria, and ultimately Morocco in the knockout stages.
‘AMAJITA CONQUER AFRICA’: PITSO MOSIMANE ON HISTORIC U-20 AFCON WIN
Following Amajita’s monumental victory, which adds to a string of recent successes for SA national teams, including qualification for the FIFA World Cup at both U-20 and U-17 levels, and Bafana Bafana’s AFCON bronze medal, Mosimane took to Twitter [X] to express his elation.
“SA U-20, conquering Africa,” said the former Al Ahly and Mamelodi Sundowns coach. “Again, it is not the first time we are experiencing all these! We are the Champs of Africa. What a period in our life that SA are experiencing all these good achievements.”
Meanwhile, Raymond Mdaka, the mastermind behind Amajita’s success, humbly praised his team’s hard work and the collective effort of players and the technical staff throughout the challenging tournament.
He highlighted the close margins of their victories from the group stages to the final, emphasising the difficulty of the final match itself.
“Well done to the boys. They’ve done themselves good, but we will always want to thank everybody, the players, the technical team,” said Mdaka.
“Starting from the first games in the group stages, you can even see the margins of the results, it’s 1-0, 1-0 scorelines, but thank God we were able to go through the whole journey until we came to the final, and we ended up winning the final.
“But it was a difficult game, honestly, as much as we told the boys to say it’s not going to be an easy game, they also saw it themselves, but we always stick to what we can do best and ensure that we don’t concede.
“…If we don’t concede in a tournament, chances are you get one goal, you score, and then you win the game, but it was a tough game [against Morocco], but a good game for the people to watch and also for our continent.
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