By Michael Madyira
South Africa’s under-20 football team, Amajita, clinched the Cosafa Championship with a 2-0 win against Zambia at the Campo da ABB Stadium in Mozambique on Saturday.
Teenage star Shandre Campbell, who plays for Club Brugge, scored the first goal, while Cape Town City forward Jody Lee Ah-Shene added the second. Ah-Shene finished the tournament with four goals.
It was a remarkable performance by Raymond Mdaka’s team, who netted 16 goals in the competition without conceding any. These goals came across five games, showcasing Amajita’s solid defence as they now prepare for the 2025 Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
South Africa’s bigger goal is to reach the Afcon semi-finals, which would secure them a spot at the 2025 Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Chile.
With this victory, Amajita have now won the Cosafa Championship nine times, just behind Zambia’s 12 titles.
Next up, Mdaka and his boys turn their focus to Afcon, a tournament South Africa has never won but where they finished as runners-up in 1997 and 2017.
Both South Africa and Zambia will represent Southern Africa at Afcon, while defending champions Senegal and Sierra Leone will compete for West Africa Zone A. DR Congo and Congo-Brazzaville will represent central Africa.
The qualifiers from other regions are yet to be confirmed.
Pictured above: Amajita players celebrating Jody Lee Ah-Shene’s goal against Zambia
Source: Cosafa
