Raymond Mdaka admits challenge of balancing South Africa U20 and U23 duties

South Africa U20 coach Raymond Mdaka says managing responsibilities with both the U20 and U23 national teams is demanding, but remains part of a programme he and his staff had planned for.

Mdaka returned from Mozambique after guiding Amajita through the 2026 CAF U20 AFCON COSAFA qualifier. South Africa secured qualification for next year’s continental finals in Ghana and retained their regional title.

The coach then joined the U23 squad in Bloemfontein, along with members of his technical team, for a pair of international friendlies against Algeria. The first match will be played on Thursday, with the second scheduled for the weekend, also in Bloemfontein.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Mdaka acknowledged the strain caused by moving directly from one national age-group side to another.

“Yeah, quite a challenge, but it’s something that we knew,” said Mdaka.

“It was in our program to say we will go to COSAFA and immediately come back because of the programme. Then we go to the U23, but it’s not everybody. It’s only me and my colleague Coach Karabo, and also the analysts. The rest of the personnel are other groups that were not with us in Mozambique.

“Quite challenging, because you go there, you go and work for almost maybe 14 days, you come back without a rest and you come inside. But it’s something that we can afford.”

Mdaka also explained why Cape Town City players Cayden Fortune and Emile Witbooi featured in both squads.

The coach said South Africa had spoken to the club before travelling to COSAFA, recognising that the competition falls outside the FIFA international window and that cooperation from clubs would therefore be important.

“We engaged with their club even before we went for the tournament because we decided to try and have relationships with the clubs, mostly because the COSAFA is out of the FIFA calendar,” added Mdaka.

“So, you always want to have a good relationship with the clubs so that they can sometimes help you with the players. So, we discussed with them and you saw Cayden and Emile joined us after our first game.

“But then having played those games, they came there then we rested them. And again, now coming from the tournament where we are playing after each and every day, we’ve been in discussion with the team to say these are the boys that we know, is not a difficult thing for us to put them back in the team.”