9 December 2022 – A place in the 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations will be up for grabs when the South African Under-17 side confront hosts Malawi in the semifinals of the football competition at the Region 5 Games in Lilongwe on Friday, 9 December 2022.

Coach National Under-17 coach Duncan Crowie said this is an important match where a lot will be at stake.

“The importance of this game cannot be highlighted enough. If we win the semifinal against Malawi, then we automatically qualify for the 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria,” he told www.www.safa.net.

“The game is very, very important. It is fantastic for us to be in the semifinals and playing against the hosts, and we are looking forward to this one. I know that it will not be an easy game because they will have the 12th man in the stands as we have seen during this competition. They are very vocal.”

SA beat Seychelles 11-0 and Mozambique 1-0 in the group stages before losing their final match 0-1 to Zambia. But the defeat came after they had already secured their place in the semifinals.

“The good thing about the Zambia match was that both teams were already through to the semifinals, so we could give everybody a chance to test the waters. Our guys did very well, but unfortunately we could not get the goal.”