21 May 2026 – Head coach of the South African U17 Men’s National team, Vela Khumalo, says they have learnt some important lessons after they bowed out of the 2026 CAF U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) following a 3-1 defeat to Ghana on Wednesday night in Morocco.
South Africa finished bottom of the table in Group D on three points following one win and two defeats. Senegal took the top spot with six points, followed by Algeria with both nations qualifying for the World Cup. Ghana ended third in the group.
“We are not happy with the results, we wanted to be part of the knockout stage, we wanted to go to the World Cup but we did not make it. Sad for the talent that we have, sad for the boys that are not going through, and we’ll see again in the next COSAFA competition, it’s back to square one with a new group. But I think again lessons learnt and we move on,” said Khumalo.
Amajimbos suffered two penalty calls against them with Ghana captain Joseph Narbi converting both to give the West Africans the lead. In between the two goals, South Africa suffered a setback when an injured Omphemetse Sekgotho, who was the livewire in the team, was replaced by Inganathi Simama in the 27th minute.
Defender Kristan O’Malley hit the crossbar just before the recess. Ghana came back from the break eager to increased their lead but South African goalkeeper and captain Lwandiso Radebe pulled off a double save to deny the West Africans.
In the 66th minute Thandanani Mhlongo gave Amajimbos a glimmer of hope with a well taken goal to make 1-2. There was still time for drama in the match as South Africa’s Zazi Qotoyi was given a straight red card for pulling an opponent with eight minutes remaining.
Augustine Appiah got the third for Ghana and no matter how hard Amajimbos tried, they could not reduce the deficit, ending in a 1-3 defeat. The South Africans return home on Saturday following one win and two losses. They came from behind to defeat Senegal 2-1 but lost 0-2 against Algeria in their second match.
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