Khumalo justifies featuring U-17 squad for South Africa in U-20 COSAFA tourney

South Africa under-20 boys’ national football team coach, Veli Khumalo, has explained why he took an under-17 team to compete in the COSAFA Youth Championship in Namibia.

The Kaizer Chiefs development team trainer said this in a post-match tournament after beating Malawi 3-0 to win the regional championship in Namibia on Sunday.

Khumalo said he used the tournament to prepare Amajita for the forthcoming FIFA Under-20 World Cup finals.

“The reason we brought the under-17 squad in the under-20 was more about preparations because this team is going to the World Cup,” the coach said.

He attributed the comprehensive win over the Malawians to sound planning after analysing Millias Pofera’s side.

“I saw most of their games Malawi versus Angola and all the teams that were here,” Khumalo said.

“We knew that our strength is to keep the ball on the grass and avoid contact because they are big boys and very strong knowing if we could do it right, Malawi could not cope. We knew that if we could play quick football and move the ball away from them, Malawi could not keep up with it.”

The Amajita coach insisted that he did not expect Malawi to qualify for the final but rather Zambia to do so “because they are also going to the World Cup. I am happy we won convincingly.”