26 April 2023 – The South African under-17 men’s national football team has officially settled in Constantine, Algeria at the Golden Tulip’s Hotel Alexandre which will be the team base camp for the duration of the u/17 AFCON group stages.

The team arrived to a warm welcome in Constantine, Algeria on Monday, 24 April 2023 and had their first training session on Tuesday morning and afternoon.

Speaking upon arrival in Constantine, U/17 Head Coach Duncan Crowie told the media that the focus was going as far as they can in the competition.

“We are looking forward to the next two weeks here or stay as long as we can, possibly till the last day of the tournament. Thehospitality has been fantastic,” said Crowie.

“Like everyone else in this competition we want to go as far as we can. Two objectives of course, the first one is reaching the semi-finals which will allow us to qualify for the World Cup and to go all the way [to the final],” added Crowie.

The team was expected to have a friendly match against Burkina Faso upon arrival in Algeria, however that was not possible as the two teams are based in two different locations. Burkina Faso is based in Annaba and South Africa based in Constantine. The coach believed the bus travel between the two cities was going to be taxing for the players who had already suffered from delayed flights from Doha, Qatar to Algeria’s capital city Algiers and from Algiers to Constantine.

Crowie’s chargers will continue with preparations ahead of their opening encounter with Morocco on 30 April 2023 (kickoff 21:00pm).