Mosimane hails Amajita COSAFA victory

Bafana Bafana head coach, Pitso Mosimane, has heaped praised on, Raymond Mdaka, and South Africa’s U20 setup after Amajita successfully defended their COSAFA title with a 2-1 victory over hosts Mozambique in Maputo on Sunday.

Oarabile Booysen opened the scoring for South Africa before Mozambique equalised shortly afterwards.

Kaizer Chiefs forward, Steven Mendes, restored Amajita’s lead from the penalty spot in the second half to secure the trophy.

Mendes also finished the tournament as the Golden Boot winner after scoring six goals.

The victory means Mdaka’s side have now won the regional title in three consecutive years, while also securing qualification for the 2027 U20 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Mozambique.

Amajita will head into the continental tournament as defending champions.

Mosimane says the team’s continued success highlights the strength of South Africa’s youth development structures.

“It’s very motivating and an inspirational story from our U20 national team, coach Raymond Mdaka has done exceptionally well with the boys and consistently, “Mosimane said

“It only shows our programs in South Africa are good, we have a very good base with the DDC, the Gauteng Development League, we are a bit ahead of those programs,” he added.

Mosimane believes further investment in the country’s development structures could help sustain the success of South Africa’s junior national teams.

“I just hope we strengthen that program because it’s one of the leading ones in the continent, so coach Raymond Mdaka has done well with the products that are coming from there. That has Sundowns, Pirates, Siwelele, everyone in that league.”

We are the Champions…#SAU20#Amajita#COSAFA@adidas@StandardBankZA@adidasfootball pic.twitter.com/mCOdGVi0wr

— SAFA.net (@SAFA_net) September 27, 2026

Written by: Ntsako Mukhari