Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has lauded the SA under-17 team for qualifying for the World Cup in Chile later this year.

Amajimbos beat Cameroon 3-1 on Sunday to book a berth in Chile as they secured qualification for the semifinals of the CAF Under-17 championship.

"It's good for our football in general, as it has been a long time since we had our junior national teams qualifying for tournaments, let alone the World Cup," Mashaba said of the success of the under-17s, in comments sent out through a Safa statement.

"This means that our structures are starting to shape up very well and this augurs well for the under-20 squad, which departs for Senegal soon [for the CAF Championship next month].

"They will also have to reach the semis as well to get to the World Cup. With all these happenings you can see that the gods of football are smiling on us and we are on a good course."

Mashaba said the latest success was proof that national teams were on the right track. "This must not be a once- off thing because we have now set a standard for ourselves. We can't look back. Bafana qualified for the Afcon [Nations Cup] for the first time in many years; Banyana Banyana were in the CAF AWC [African Women's Championship], even though they could not qualify for the World Cup; the U-17s have just done it in Niger and soon the U-20s will be heading out to go and compete in Senegal," he said.

"What is left is for the U-23 squad to get on board."