he South African U-17 men’s team have been invited to Santiago de Cali, Colombia, to play two international friendly matches as they continue with preparations for the upcoming COSAFA U-17 Championships and the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
Amajimbos will report for camp on 10 April 2024 and they are expected to depart for Colombia on 13 April ahead of the matches scheduled for 17 and 20 April 2024.
This generation of Amajimbos was identified in 2023 through the U-15 FIFA-SAFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS) Interprovincial Tournament, the SA National Schools Championships, and the recently completed Bayhill Premier Cup in Cape Town.
The team participated in a Three-Nations TDS Tournament in Rabat, Morocco, in early December 2023, where they played against Cote d’Ivoire and the North African hosts. They lost 4-2 to the West Africans and then beat the North Africans 3-1, meeting the Technical Team’s objectives.
Amajimbos head coach Vela Khumalo told www.safa.net that the two friendly matches against Colombia set the right technical trajectory of exposing the squad to South American opposition, different tactical environment and physical challenges.
“The plan is to increase the players’ average international caps to between five and nine caps by December 2024, accelerate game time and set the technical-tactical foundation in line with the SAFA Vision 2030,”he said.
“For this Colombia project, we have selected a group of 21 players that we want to have a look at from our last encounter in Morocco. Strategically, the selection aims to foster continuity, stabilise key tactical elements and refine our national playing concept as we prepare for the battles ahead.
“Finally, we want to thank FIFA, the SAFA leadership, SAFA Technical Director Walter Steenbok and the Colombian Football Federation for making this possible.”