24.07.2025
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SA U20 side make history by winning U20 Afcon against Morocco

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  • South African U20 national team players.

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The South African U20 side has made history by winning the U20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) for the first time on Sunday evening in Egypt. This when Amajita beat Morocco by a solitary second half goal when star midfielder, Gomolemo Kekana fired home a beautiful goal in the 70th minute following a long ranger pass from man of the match goalkeeper Fletcher Lowe.

It was a sweet revenge for South Africa who found themselves in the repeat of the 1997 Afcon final, where Morocco narrowly beat the South African lads 1-0 in the final.

None of the players who rewrote history on Sunday were born yet when the two nations faced off against each other 28 years ago.

The victory means Amajita will travel to the U20 FIFA World Cup in Chile later this year as the champions of Africa.

Ahead of the match, the coach of the South African Under-20 men’s national football team Raymond Mdaka expressed confidence that his boys were capable of re-writing the history books.

Mdaka believed they were capable of causing a big upset against Morocco.

“For us, reaching the final it was out of effort. For Morocco to reach the final it was out of effort. Well, we will re-write the history but we would also like to turn around the tables and see how best we have developed as a country because you can see in between there was a bit of a slump in South Africa in terms of the junior teams but we have picked up like my goalkeeper said. You see the Under-17’s have qualified, the Under-20’s have qualified. It looks like we are getting there,” says Mbatha.

En route to the final, Amajita saw of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the quarterfinals and Nigeria in the semifinals, among some of the team they won against.

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