Sanity prevails as Mahlambi given green light to travel to Zambia

27 February 2017 - 17:34 By Marc Strydom
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Phakamani Mahlambi will join the South African team competing at the Caf Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Zambia but will not arrive in time for Monday’s first game against Cameroon in Ndola.

A give-and-take agreement has been reached by the SA Football Association (Safa) and the 19-year-old striking prodigy’s club‚ Bidvest Wits‚ for Mahlambi to join the squad late.

That agreement is that Mahlambi is available for the SA U-20s’ group stage matches against Senegal on Thursday in Ndola and Sudan next Monday in Lusaka‚ where hopefully his presence can help Amajita reach the semifinals‚ qualifying them for the Fifa U-20 World Cup in May.

However‚ Mahlambi will return to Wits for their Caf Champions League first round‚ first leg match against Al Ahly in Cairo on March 11.

This means he is likely to miss the U-20 Afcon semifinals (March 8 and 9) and will miss the final (March 12)‚ should SA go that far.

“The player will join the national team"‚ Safa CEO Dennis Mumble told TMG Digital on Monday.

"We’re just trying to get him on a flight so he can go (on Monday).

“Obviously he’s not going to be able to play in the first game.

“We had told [Wits] we had two options.

"The first was to regulate the release of players going forward for every single national team.

“But we said don’t want to do a rigid system‚ but rather work with the clubs so the clubs can also succeed.

“So there was give and take and we still want to work with the clubs on an individual basis – sometimes we need them and they need us.

“They have released the player today [on Monday].

"If he can he will go today‚ if not he will leave first thing in the morning [on Tuesday].

“He has to be back with them for their Al Ahly game.

"Our main priority is to reach the U-20 World Cup‚ and we will know from the first round whether we have qualified for that.

“After that‚ we will still aim to win the competition‚ but our key objective would then have been met.”

Before the U-20s’ departure for Zambia on Friday‚ coach Thabo Senong had said that a late Mahlambi was better than no Mahlambi at all.

“Look‚ you’re talking about one individual.

"If you were talking about five players joining us in Zambia‚ maybe I would complain‚” Senong said.

“It happens worldwide where key players can join their national teams late.

"The technical influence on the field can always help us.

“With the U23s [at the U-23 Afcon in November 2015‚ where Junior Bafana finished third and reached the Olympics]‚ Menzi Masuku and Gift Motupa joined is in the morning of the second game against Zambia.

“They came in‚ they scored goals. So ja‚ it is possible.

“Phakamani was with us at those U-23 championships.

"He knows the demands‚ he’s ambitious and he wants to represent the country.”

SA’s opening game against Cameroon at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium will be televised live on SuperSport 9 from 5.45pm.

- TMG Digital

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