28 March 2023 – Coach Zipho Dlangalala hopes to turn things around when the South African U16 Men’s National Team faces hosts Poland in their second match of the UEFA U16 development tournament on Wednesday (29 March 2023).

South Africa suffered a 1-2 defeat to Northern Ireland in their opening match of the tournament on Monday, but Dlangalala was encouraged by the performance of his young charges. He said South Africa should be invited to participate in more tournament like this in a bid to assist the development of young players.

“It is very clear that UEFA, who are our hosts and invited us, are very serious about youth development. This tournament is a great opportunity for us and a great moment for these players, us as coaches, managers and the country. They don’t have any reason to give us this opportunity – they are UEFA while we fall under CAF. So it’s something to appreciate very much,” he said.

“We do hope that our performance against Northern Ireland, against Poland on Wednesday and against Luxembourg on Saturday will leave a mark and make it possible for South African youth teams to keep on getting these kinds of invitations. It is this type of activity and exposure that will help our youth teams to be better players in the future.”

The tournament runs from 27 March to 1 April 2023 and the participants are the hosts Poland, Luxembourg and Northern Ireland.

South Africa will play against hosts Poland on Wednesday (29 March 2023) at Miejski Floriana Stadium at 12pm SA time, before wrapping up their stay against Luxembourg on Saturday 1 April 2023.