Senong gears up for Cosafa Cup defence

NATIONAL under-20 coach Thabo Senong has begun his mission to rebuild the team after they failed to qualify for this year's World Cup.

NATIONAL under-20 coach Thabo Senong has begun his mission to rebuild the team after they failed to qualify for this year's World Cup.

Amajita, who were knocked out in the first round at the African Youth Championship (AYC) in Senegal last month, will be involved in Cosafa Cup action in Zambia in December.

Senong will use the competition Amajita won in 2013 as preparation for next year's AYC qualifiers.

The Bafana Bafana assistant coach was at the Metropolitan u19 Premier Cup in Cape Town during the Easter weekend and there were a number of players he was impressed with.

Striker Kwanele Zulu of SuperSport United finished the tournament as top scorer with seven goals, just one more than Mihlali Mayambela's six strikes, and both could be considered for the Cosafa Cup later this year.

Most of the under-20 players at the AYC last month will graduate to the under-23 team for the Olympic qualifiers later this year.

"We have identified some players who can help the national team going forward. In football there are always new diamonds that have to be given the platform and opportunities," Senong said.

"The priority was to scout players who were born in 1997 and we got 30 players and that is important because we want to build the next generation of under-20 players. We will continue scouting. We want to defend the Cosafa Cup, so we should have a friendly game around October."

Senong said he will use some of the national under-17 players after they compete at the World Cup in Chile in October.

Players such as Nelson Maluleke, Athenkosi Dlala and Mondli Mpoto are ready to graduate to the under-20 team.