4 December 2019 – The South African U20 Men’s National Team has safely arrived in Lusaka, Zambia ahead of the start of the 2019 COSAFA Men’s Championship that will be played from 4 – 14 December.
The visitors arrived on Wednesday afternoon and had a light training session.
Interim head coach Helman Mkhalele has selected a squad of 20 players that he hopes will defend the title they won two years in a row under former coach Thabo Senong.
South Africa has won a record four editions.
For the 2019 tournament, Amajita are in Group B alongside Mauritius, Madagascar and Lesotho.
To prepare for the tournament, Mkhalele’s charges played three practice matches, winning two and lost the other one.
In the first fixture, they faced Polokwane City Rovers, who campaign in the ABC Motsepe League. City won 2-1.
They were then up against the U-17 squad of the University of Johannesburg and Amajita defeated them 1-0.
The third clash was a tough encounter against Baberwa FC, another ABC Motsepe outfit.
South Africa came from a goal down to win 2-1.
The players showed a lot of improvement and Mkhalele had this to say before the squad’s departure to Zambia: