This is what fulfills you

These are exciting times for South African football, and coaches at youth level have a big role to play to ensure that the talent being produced is of high quality, so that the national teams can keep doing well. With the success of the national U20 team at the Africa Cup of Nations, there's good reason to believe that there's more to come and coaches such as David Notoane can help inspire growth because of the experience he has at international and DStv Diski Challenge level. The Mamelodi Sundowns Diski Challenge coach spoke to Soccer Laduma's Tshepang Mailwane about the recent success of Amajita, as the U20s are affectionately known, and what it will take to sustain the success of South African football right now.

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Tshepang Mailwane: Hello coach, thank you for making time to chat to us. Let's start with the national U20 team's Africa Cup of Nations triumph recently. As someone who has previously worked with the junior national teams - and being the coach of two Mamelodi Sundowns players who were in the squad - what were your feelings on their success in Egypt?

David Notoane: It was a very exciting moment, and one should congratulate the technical staff; coach Raymond Mdaka, who is a product of the SAFA coaching education, and (assistant) coach Karabo Mogudi. The entire technical team has done a fantastic job. What's even exciting is the background of the coaches in terms of the coaching education and also the journey they have walked. We have always believed that we have talent in South Africa. The U17 and U20 have done very well. For me, it was a defining moment in that finally our youth football got the just reward for what the previous generations have been deserving. They have put South Africa in the continental space that is deserving and gives us recognition. The team is going to the World Cup later this year as champions of Africa.

TM: With this recent success of Amajita, what do you think the country is getting right at the moment, considering there is a lot of good happening in both men’s and women’s football?