South Africa U20 head coach Raymond Mdaka has opened up on his rotational policy that’s steered Amajita to the U20 Africa Cup of Nationsl final against Morocco.
South Africa beat Nigeria 1-0 in the semi-finals and now have the chance to lift their first-ever title in the competition, having already secured their place for the U20 FIFA World Cup in Chile later this year.
Much has been spoken of their skeleton staff and only 21 players selected, due to budget constraints, but Mdaka, his technical team and the squad of players have performed beyond expectations to reach the final in Egypt.
“We have a good bunch of players with character, what we know is that we have our own tactics, as do the opponents, but we’re able to adjust, look at the game we played against DRC, it looked like we struggled a bit, even this one [against Nigeria] but we manage the situation and have the character under pressure, we absorb and apply what we want to apply,” Mdaka said about the win.
“But congratulations to the boys, also the Nigeria team, it was very good game, honestly. It was within our plan [to rotate]. We need to refresh some of the legs because we only have 20 players, so every time we line up there’s areas we try to refresh.
“But we have a plan to say if we have challenges, this is how we drop in, you saw Jody didn’t start today but we know sometimes he can play as a 10, we knew they had good 10, we wanted to make sure we have something who can reserve that space in the 10 area, so we dropped him to play there. And Thabang stayed on top and managed the right hand side.”
Having started the tournament with a 1-0 defeat to hosts Egypt, South Africa has rallied with aplomb, winning four games and drawing once, scoring eight and conceding only two.
But the rotation of the squad has been one of the major talking points at the tournament, with likes of Kutwlano Lethaku, Shakeel April, Faiz Abrahams, Mfundo Vilakazi, Jody Ah Shene and Thabang Mahlangu often inter-changing between fixtures.
“Every play wants to play and wants to show up, when we sit and do analysis with them – we profile our players, we profile the opposition and we’re able to say with this one’s strength along these lines can be able to assist,” he said.
“On a number of times, the game against Sierra Leone, the game against [DRC] we knew having these players on the bench, they can help us win, but should players not have that spirit of saying we’re a team, and in a team we can only play 11.
“I need to balance the team, like I said we have a thin squad – it’s how we manage them but also making them understand what we’re doing and them also knowing if this one is [on the bench] it means we’re strong and we want to win as a team.
“These kinds of exercises with the players, these kinds of talks, them understanding how we play, understanding why someone is playing it makes a difference and when they get on the field… how much you shout from the bench might not make a difference, but what they understand from your agreement can help without waiting for the second half.”
