Rising young stars: Grant Margeman of Ajax Cape Town shows promise with his stamina on the field.
A respected Rwandan journalist revealed that the South African national U-20 team impressed her most at the Confederation of African Football’s African Nations Cup in Zambia and, unlike other countries, the Amajita generally seemed to be in the right age category, which cannot be said about other competing countries.
As a bonus, the team has qualified for the Fifa U-20 World Cup, scheduled for South Korea later this year. And although they can’t quite be compared to the class of 1997, which was led by Matthew Booth in central defence and Benni McCarthy in attack, the current squad gives Mzansi much to look forward to.
The majority of the lads are still unpolished rough diamonds but there is no doubt that, with proper guidance from their clubs and if the South African Football Association invests more time in advancing their development, they will ultimately form the backbone of the senior Bafana team.
The new Bafana coach will no doubt be watching this group very closely in building a future team to represent the country at the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Among the players he would call up without hesitation is Luther Singh.
The 19-year-old Portugal-based winger is versatile and effective on both the right and left sides of midfield. He is a skilful attacker comfortable with the ball on either foot, but his greatest strength is his ability to visualise every movement around him and the fact that he has pace to burn.
Liam Jordan is another striker who can easily graduate to the senior set-up. There are no frills about him. He leads the attack cleverly and knows how to ghost into a position where he can cause damage to the opposition. His opening goal against Senegal was a classic example of his positional sense.
Grant Margeman lacks the skills and guile of Andile Jali and the work ethic of Dean Furman, but the Ajax Cape Town lad puts in an honest day’s work and is prepared to run his lungs out for the duration of a match.
He showed this when he ventured upfront against Sudan and snatched a cracking goal that eased the pressure on the team. When he learns to pace himself, he’ll become an invaluable box-to-box midfielder and a key member of the senior team.
Phakamani Mahlambi proved his worth when he helped the U-23 team to qualify for the Olympic Games. Sadly, injury forced him to miss the global event but once again his bravery, trickery and pace troubled the opposition at the African tournament in Zambia.
Already a nuisance to defenders in the premiership and feeding off the physically imposing James Keene at Bidvest Wits, Mahlambi knows that defenders hate a player who comes running at them. His daring runs force them to commit errors, making him one to avoid at all costs. The sooner he is used by the senior team, the better he will become.
His Bidvest teammate Bonga Mbatha is a bundle of energy, with pace and a bag full of tricks. He is a marvel to watch and capable of unlocking even the tightest of defences. He’d do well to watch Barcelona’s Lionel Messi closely and learn from a player of similar stature.
Mbatha is vertically challenged, with naysayers constantly reminding him that his height is a constraint to his game. Messi is one of the shortest players on the planet and yet he is the most feared on Earth.
If Mbatha can work on strengthening his upper body more, he will be blessed with all the attributes to be an exciting, explosive South African player with his swaggering style that borders on arrogance.
Then, of course, there is Tercious Malepe, the gangling skipper of the group who reminds us of Eric “Tower” Mathoho of Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana. Tall and skinny, his physique belies his strength in the tackle and he continues to be a defender who’s difficult to shake off in a one-on-one challenge.
Malepe faces a serious challenge for the central defensive position in the senior Bafana team and it will take some doing to dislodge Mathoho and Rivaldo Coetzee from their twin positions. But he has age on his side and, at the rate he is going, the future is certainly bright – not just for him but for the country, too.