21 September 2026 – The South African U20 men’s national team are just one point away from a semi-final spot in the CAF U20 Men’s Africa Cup of Nations COSAFA Qualifiers after defeating a stubborn Angola 2-0 at the ABB Stadium in Matola, Mozambique, on Monday.
Amajita Head Coach Raymond Mdaka had made two changes in the starting line-up, introducing new arrivals in the camp Emile Witbooi and Cayden Fortune for Milimo Nalumango and Kamohelo Mareletse.
The South Africans had to dig deep against a relentless Angola side which was looking to maintain their winning momentum after defeating Eswatini in the opening match.
But they found a solid Amajita team led by their irrepressible captain Lazola Maku, who led from the front with a stunner of a goal in the 14th minute.
Four minutes before the half-time whistle, Steven Mendes doubled the lead with a header from a Witbooi freekick. This was Mendes’ third goal in the competition in two games, following his brace against Lesotho. He is now joint tournament top goal scorer alongside Lorenzo Hoareau of the Seychelles.
On the other side of the break, Mdaka brought on Sanele Simelane and Lakham Gqongo in place of Oarabile Booysen and Teboho Mlangeni, but a few minutes later Gqongo had to be stretchered off following a cut on his face, and Zazi Qotoyi came on for him. The injured defender was taken to the hospital but later released after being stitched up and is likely to miss the Eswatini clash.
Mareletse also took the place of Matthew Palmer. Angola pushed hard for a goal, but the South Africans were solid and did not give away anything, and in the end were 2-0 victors after a hard-fought battle.
“As much as we respect all the teams in the group, we felt that Angola was one of the strong teams but credit to the boys, they did very well, tactically so and also in terms of character. In football sometimes you don’t only need a plan, but you need character and the spirit to fight in the field of play, so we really appreciate what the boys did. But also, the technical team did the job very well. We knew where their strong points were and we were able to make sure that defensively we closed those strong areas but at the same time not compromising our attack. As much as we were caught in some other areas, the way we planned gave us the result that we have today. Credit once again to the whole team,” said Mdaka.
Maku was named Player of the Match, the second Amajita player after Mendes in the first fixture. The U20 COSAFA Cup defending champions next face Eswatini, who defeated Lesotho 3-2 in the other Group B match.
With one match remaining in the round robin phase, Amajita are top of the table on six points and need only a draw to secure a semi-final spot. The South Africans have scored five goals in two fixtures and are yet to concede.
Angola lie second with three points and take on Lesotho in the final group stage match.
Only the group winners, along with the second-best finisher, will proceed to the last four stage, with the finalists booking their tickets to the U20 AFCON in Ghana next year.
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