‘They are for the future’: Bafana coach Broos impressed by Amajita at World Cup

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has praised Amajita for progressing to the knockout stages of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Chile where they take on Colombia on Wednesday night.

South Africa finished second in Group C with six points from three matches to set up a tricky last 16 clash with Colombia, who topped Group F on five points. If they win, Amajita will face the victors of Ukraine or Spain in the quarterfinals.

Broos said the U-20s are gaining valuable international experience.

“After they won the Africa Cup of Nations [Afcon, in May], we knew this was the team to keep an eye on,” he said as Bafana prepared for their 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe in Durban on Friday and Rwanda in Mbombela next Tuesday.

“They are doing very well again after Afcon and they managed to beat the US in their last group match. They are for the future and that is important.”

The Bafana squad is largely settled and Broos said he is unlikely to consider Amajita’s players for the senior Afcon in Morocco in December and January.

“I don’t think we have to count on those guys for Afcon in December, this is too soon for them. Let them make a good U-20 World Cup and we will see later which players we will eventually use for Bafana if it’s possible.

“We have started with putting young players in the Bafana squad — you can see I have Malibongwe Khoza and Thabang Matuludi sitting next to me here in this press conference.

“They are not the old, they are young players who have produced good performances for their clubs.

“I think it will be a great experience for the U-20 guys at the World Cup, because they have qualified for knockout stages. It is good for the future of Bafana Bafana and it is certainly something we can be happy about.”