JOHANNESBURG - Phakamani Mahlambi will only get play in South Africa’s national Under-20 squad (Amajita’s) two remaining group matches before he returns back into the country on Monday, Bidvest Wits CEO Jose Ferreira, revealed.
This comes after Safa managed to convince the Wits’ boss to loosen his grip on the player, who they believe that will play a massive role in helping Amajita to qualify for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup tournament in South Korea later this year.
Mahlambi is mostly likely to feature in Amajita’s encounter again Senegal in Ndola (Kick-off 6pm), before they lock horns with Sudan in their final group match, where a win is most likely to see them secure a place in the final four of the biennial continental showpiece.
“We only saw it fair to finally release him,” Ferreira said. “Safa made us understand how important this tournament was for them. We (the national Under-20) haven’t qualified for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in years. And they told us that they believed that Mahlambi was the man who could help them to finally achieve that goal. We couldn’t say no. And so, we came to a compromise.
“Mahlambi will miss out in our encounter against Bloemfontein Celtic (on Friday night), but will definitely be available for selection in (Gavin) Hunt’ side in their match against Chippa United.”
Meanwhile, Thabo Senong expressed his joy of having both his captain, Tercious Malepe and Mahlambi back in his squad, adding that it will give him a pleasant headache when it comes to selecting his starting line-up against Senegal.
Malepe was suspended during the qualifiers of this tournament, and could not feature in Amajita’s first match against Cameroon.
“We are the only team which came with 19 players here in this tournament,” Senong said. “I’m now happy that we have all of our players back. Tercious is the leader of the team, while Phakamani is a senior member of this squad as well. It’s a nice headache to have as a coach knowing that all of your players are available (for selection), and you’re now left with the responsibility of putting the best eleven to do the job for you out there. I’m happy to have all of my player back.”
However, the Bafana Bafana assistant coach added that having all off his players back didn’t necessarily mean that they were now going to saunter past senegal, who drew 1-1 in their first group match game against Sudan.
“Senegal didn’t have a good game in their first match,” Senong said. “And that’s mainly because of the early red card and the penalty which was given in that match. That decision unsettled them a little bit. But I still believe that they still remain to be one of the best teams in these two groups of this tournament.
“They went through the qualifiers without losing any of their matches,” Senong added. “They went past the likes of Ghana during that qualification phase to be where they are now. This past December, they were crowned champions in a tournament they participated in Togo. They haven’t lost a single match in the past six months and that should tell you about the quality they have in their squad.”
“I still maintain that we are still underdogs (in their group).”