SA football upbeat about 'Amajita'

When Carlos Alberto Parreira, Joel Santana's predecessor, was in charge of Bafana Bafana, he stressed time and time again that it was important to build from the ground up, with football at under-20 level being particularly important.

Parreira said South Africa needed to be competitive in youth championships, and now the country is performing at that level.

In January, the South Africa under-20s played in the African Youth Championships in Rwanda.

Known as "Amajita" - meaning a group of boys - the team booked their place in the finals by thumping Reunion 8-2 on aggregate in the first round of qualifying, followed by a 3-0 aggregate victory over Botswana.

Tough group

In Rwanda, where only the top eight teams contest the finals, South Africa was drawn in a tough group featuring Nigeria, Egypt and the Ivory Coast. Undaunted, South Africa's under-20s beat the Ivory Coast 1-0 in their first outing.

In their second match they made people sit up and take notice when they beat Nigeria, traditionally a bogey team for South African sides, by two goals to one.

Egypt defeated South Africa 2-1 in their third and final group match, but the previous two victories were enough to see Serame Letsoaka's charges through to the semi-finals as second-place finishers in the group, behind Nigeria on goal difference.

Semi-finals

That meant South Africa had to face Group A winners Ghana in the semi-finals. In a high-scoring contest, Ghana secured a 4-3 victory.

Nigeria, meanwhile, went down 2-0 to Cameroon in their semi-final, meaning they would take on South Africa once more for third place.

This time around the Nigerians won 2-1. Ghana went on to clinch the title with a 2-0 win over Cameroon.

Fifa under-20 World Cup

Despite finishing fourth, by reaching the semi-finals South Africa booked a place at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup, which takes place in Egypt from 25 September to 16 October 2009. It was the first time they had qualified for the World Cup in 12 years.

The big name to emerge from the under-20 side of 1997 was striker Benni McCarthy. A year later, in the 1998 African Cup of Nations, he was joint-top scorer alongside Egyptian great Hossam Hassan, with seven goals. That mark has been bettered only once in the history of the event.

McCarthy has gone on to become the highest scorer in Bafana Bafana's history. He has also played club football in Spain, Portugal, and England, for Celta Vigo, Porto, and Blackburn Rovers respectively.

A generation of stars?

The South African under-20 side impressed in Rwanda, and some are suggesting that a generation of stars is on its way. Yet stars are only determined by results and performances, so the team's showing in Egypt will go some way towards revealing just how good the SA under-20s are.

South Africa's under-20 coach Serame Letsoaka, in an interview with Fifa.com, said: "We are a good side, but it's always good when we go to these tournaments as underdogs. That way we can surprise people.

"We have exciting players," Letsoaka said. "I'm sure they want to lift their hands up and persuade the senior team coach that they are ready for the big stage."

Bafana coach Joel Santana has taken note of some of the under-20 players, including stars performers, such as Masibusane Zongo, Ramahlwe Mphahele and Phumelele Bhengu.

With some of the Bafana Bafana squad heading towards the end of their international careers, Santana will need to keep his eye on the talent that is emerging at age-group level.

Well known players

Many well known names in South African football have passed through the under-20 ranks. Some of them have secured big money moves overseas, although now, with the Premier Soccer League now the seventh most lucrative league in the world, staying at home is a more attractive option than it used to be.

Among those who have won contracts abroad are:

Matthew Booth, who recently returned to Mamelodi Sundowns after stints at FC Rostov and Krylia Sovetov Samara in Russia
Delron Buckley, with German clubs Vfl Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld, Borussia Dortmund, Mainz 05, and Swiss side FA Basel
Bradley Carnell with Vfb Stuttgart, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Karlsruhe
Lance Davids with TSV 1860 Munich and Swedish outfit Djurgårdens IF
Thembinkosi "Terror" Fanteni, with Maccabi Haifa
Benni McCarthy, with Celta Vigo, Porto, and Blackburn Rovers
Nasief Morris, the most capped player at under-20 level with 25 internationals, at Aris FC, Panathinaikos, and Recreativo Huelva
Steven Pienaar, with Ajax Amsterdam, Borussia Dortmund, and Everton
Elrio van Heerden, at FC Copenhagen and Club Brugge.

Mafikeng adopts Obama's team

The strains of "The Star Spangled Banner" were heard at Redibone Middle School in Mafikeng, North West province on Friday as South Africa's "My 2010 School Adventure" campaign arrived at the school.

The campaign, which aims to promote both education and participation in football, has seen schools in all nine of the country's provinces "adopting" teams participating in the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup.

Along with the rest of North West province, Redibone Middle School - whose under 14 boys and girls teams won the North West region's Confederations Cup schools tournament, which also part of the campaign - have adopted North American Concacaf champions the United States.

"I am very excited about South Africa hosting the Fifa Confederations Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup, as it is such a world-spanning tournament and the first time the African continent is hosting such an event," US Consul General Andrew Passen said as he addressed 1 000 pupils at the school on Friday.

"You are not only a school of champions," Passen told the children. "You are in fact a school of double champions. I really hope I get to watch my province become the national champions," Passen added, referring to the upcoming national finals of the schools tournament, which will see the four finalists from each province battle it out for the title of national champions in May.

"I felt so good when we won, but we are now training very hard for the national finals," said Reginah Olehile, a member of the under-14 girls team.

"It is great to have won, because I want the opportunity to play as much football as I can, I want to play professionally, I want to play for Bafana", said Omphile Lemphane, a forward for the under-14 boys team.

A total of 8 349 schools across South Africa are participating in My 2010 School Adventure, which also sees pupils learning more about the culture, football, history and language of Confederations Cup contenders Spain, Italy, Brazil, Iraq, New Zealand, Egypt and South Africa.

"I am learning so much about America, and now I want to go there myself," Lemphane said. "I want to meet Barack Obama."

The programme is a partnership between the Department of Education, the Department of Sport and Recreation, the 2010 Fifa World Cup Local Organising Committee, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

Construction workers 'real 2010 heroes'

South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup has proven to be a major catalyst for positive development in country - particularly for the construction industry.

As South Africa gears up to host the biggest single-code sporting event in the world, the construction work is ever increasing.

From upgrading the country's transport infrastructure, hotel and accommodation facilities to creating 10 world-class stadiums which are either being refurbished or built from scratch in nine host cities, local construction companies and their workers are receiving a major boost in tough economic times.

Vasco Pedrina, the Italian-based vice-president of Builders and Wood Workers International (BWI), an international federation that campaigns for fair working conditions around the world, paid a visit to the construction site at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium on the weekend.

"This is my first time in South Africa and this is my first inspection of a South African site, and my impressions of the conditions at Soccer City stadium are positive," Pedrina said.

"In fact the organisation and conditions on site are a lot better than a lot of sites I have been to."

For Crosby Moni, vice-president of the National Union of Mineworkers and an executive member of BWI, the inspection was a showcase of how the world, as well as South Africa, can benefit from the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

"We are not only setting parameters for South Africa, but for events around the world," Moni said. "The standards that will be set in South Africa will be the standards of the world in the construction sector".

BWI regional representative Crecentia Mofokeng said that hosting soccer's showpiece event had permanently altered the construction landscape of South Africa.

"Before South Africa won the bid the construction sector was not doing so well, but the successful bid for 2010 has raised the hopes for construction workers to now get a job".

The trade union delegation was due this week to visit both Green Point stadium in Cape Town, where workers recently started to lift the giant roof into place, as well as the workers at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, who recently completed the iconic arch over the stadium.

2010 World Cup: 500 days to go

South Africa's preparations for the 500-day countdown to the opening of the 2010 Fifa World Cup are well under way, with a wide range of activities taking place across the country, and a main event scheduled for the Mangaung Outdoor Sports Centre in Bloemfontein on Monday.

"Monday next week will be exactly 500 days to go to the world's biggest sporting spectacle, watched by a cumulative audience of more than 26-billion spectators worldwide, and South Africa's preparations are in overdrive," the 2010 Local Organising Committee said in a statement this week.

Media conference

A media conference will be held in Johannesburg, and will be attended by Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke, LOC chairman Irvin Khoza and LOC chief executive Danny Jordaan.

They will talk about the achievements made since South Africa was awarded the right to host the event five years ago, as well as the remaining milestones leading up to the tournament's kick-off on 11 June 2010 at the Soccer City Stadium to the south of Johannesburg.

Host city posters

The mayors from all nine host cities, as well as Provincial and Local Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka, will be at the sports centre in Bloemfontein, where they will officially unveil their respective host city posters.

To kick-off the day's activities, delegates from the Italian Embassy, together with 2010 ambassadors Mark Fish and Philemon Masinga, will visit two schools in the area as part of the 2010 "Adopt-a-Nation" schools campaign, which will be followed by a mini schools football tournament.

Street parade

Ahead of the countdown, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality will mark the day by holding a street parade and a fun walk in the streets of KwaThema, Tsakane and Duduza, before culminating in a massive celebration at the KwaThema Stadium this Sunday.

The event is expected to several senior officials, including Gauteng provincial sports minister Barbara Creecy and Ekurhuleni executive mayor Ntombi Mekgwe, as well as local councillors, community leaders, soccer veterans and members of the public in general.

Football World Cup 2010 South Africa

We are getting ready for the 2010 World Cup

Source: SouthAfrica.info
The all-in-one official guide
and web portal to South Africa.

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