Amajita coach Raymond Mdaka has explained why he left out star players Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Shandre Campbell from his U20 World Cup-bound squad on Thursday.
Mdaka named his final 21-man squad for the upcoming U20 FIFA World Cup. This will be held in Chile from September 27 to October 19 2025.
Mdaka told Safa Media that the reason behind the omission of Mbokazi was due to an agreement with Bafana Bafana counterpart Hugo Broos.
Part of Bafana squad
The 19-year-old defender is expected to be part of Broos’ Bafana squad that will play two crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Rwanda next month.
Campbell is another notable absentee after he was denied permission to join Amajita by his Belgian side, Club Brugge. This was despite Broos stepping in and trying to convince them to accept the call-up letter.
“The team has once again resumed its programmes in preparation for the World Cup. Having started with a recent camp during the September FIFA calendar, which was from the 1st of September to the 9th. We …were supposed to finalise the team of about 21 players that will be representing the country,” Mdaka said.
“It was a very good camp, honestly. There were a lot of headaches where we had all these players, about 30 players. And then trying to come up with 21. Very, very difficult. But the fact that we’ve been with the players for so long — that’s one thing that helped us to be able to come up with the final list.
Long time players on list
“The final list, if you look at it, consists of about 80% of the players who have been through the programmes since we started in our preparation. Through Cosafa and the Afcon.
Mdaka continued: “So, we are happy because these players have even graduated here. They are first-team players, most of them.
“And not only having graduated to the first team. But at the same time, most of them are getting minutes in their first teams, which helps. Because, you know, with the national team, you only have them sometimes, maybe for a week or so.”
Amajita will assemble for camp in Johannesburg on Friday. They will depart for Chile on Wednesday, September 24 2025.
Mdaka’s charges were drawn in Group E. And they open their account against France on 29 September. This will be followed by debutants New Caledonia on October 2, and wrap it up with the US on October 5.
