South Africa U20 coach Raymond Mdaka has credited their historic Africa Cup of Nations victory to the impact of the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC).
Mdaka selected a squad mostly made up of DDC players and they showed quality, heart and character as they went all the way to win the AFCON U20 title following a 1-0 victory against Morocco on Sunday, a first one in the nation’s history.
The team had started with a 1-0 loss to Egypt before they revived their hopes by beating Tanzania 1-0, Sierra Leone 4-1 and a 1-1 draw with Zambia to make it to the quarter-final, where they beat DR Congo 1-0.
Mdaka lauds DDC for lifting South African football
In the semi-final, they faced a great test against Nigeria, winning 1-0 without having been the best team on the balance of play, and the same thing happened in the final which was settled by Gomolemo Kekana’s 70th minute strike.
Mdaka believes this would have been difficult if they did not have a very competitive youth league back home like the DDC.
“Back home, we used to have interviews and said a number of players you see are the players playing in the DDC, and most of them were promoted to their senior teams after our [COSAFA Cup final] game in Mozambique,” Mdaka said in Cairo after the win, as quoted by SABC.
“That says a lot to the youth, that we seem to be getting there because that is the foundation of the senior national team, and adding to that, our U17 team has qualified [for FIFA U17 World Cup].
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“It means we need to put more focus on the development again because that's what can take us somewhere in terms of our football, and I again salute the DDC because it made it easy for us to be able to see players week in and week out and following them.
“Because the country is so big, and if it wasn't for the DDC, we wouldn't be able to see them – you couldn't drive, perhaps, and make follow-ups on players, but through the DDC, we're able to do that and as much as we won it, they've done a good job for the country.”
Winning the AFCON title was also a personal triumph for Mdaka, who had seen his plans disrupted when a number of key players did not make the squad, after their clubs held onto them due to various commitments, including Club Brugge’s Shandre Campbell and Orlando Pirates defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi.
