Ashley Makhanya reflects on SA’s 1997 Afcon U20 final as Amajita gear up for Morocco title decider

Ashley Makhanya has relived the hostility the South African Under-20 team endured at the Africa Youth Championships final in 1997 ahead of this year’s showdown.

Amajita will face Morocco in the youth Afcon final at Cairo International Stadium in Egypt on Sunday night (8pm kick-off).

The two teams have already qualified for the Under-20 Fifa World Cup finals, which will take place in September, having qualified for the semi-finals.

The Egyptians know all about winning the Afcon, as they have four crowns and lead Nigeria with three.

But with Amajita having beaten Nigeria in the semi-finals this week, courtesy of Tylon Smith’s goal, they’ll want to go all the way and surpass the Class of ’97.

Makhanya, now 47, was part of the last Amajita team that reached the Afcon final 28 years ago, when they lost 1-0 to Morocco, who were the hosts as well.

“Two days before the game, even from the hotel as you tried to walk to the kitchen, everyone now was on top of us,” reflected Makhanya during an exclusive interview with Independent Media.

“Everyone kept saying, ‘You are going to lose’. The chef and drivers who were nice to us – everyone changed. We tried to walk out, and it was terrible.

“On the day of the final, it was even worse – from the hotel to the stadium, the country was red. People were shouting at us and beating our bus. 

“It was so full that people were on top of buildings. It was hostile. The police had to work overtime. These people felt like they wanted to grab us. You could see from their faces.

“Others were laying down their mats, and praying outside. There was a lot of noise.

“It was just a hostile environment. It was something that we had never faced before.”

But despite the hostility on match-day, coach Shakes Mashaba and his assistant Thabo Dladla were not fazed.

As such, Dladla offered his troops some motivation before the game in order to make sure that they played according to its demands, not the occasion.

“That’s what Coach Thabo Dladla, the assistant coach, said to Coach Shakes: here, we need strong minds,” Makhanya recalled.

“He said we needed to remember who we are and how we got here. We needed to fear nothing. We are South Africans. We come from a past that faced hostility.”

Makhanya and his teammates might have etched their names in the history books, but the former left back has lauded the set-up of the current group.

According to the former Wits player, coach Raymond Mdaka’s troops have worked hard to be where they are today, given all the challenges they’ve been facing.

Back in 1997, they had everything at their disposal as they even played Italy on home soil and had Benni McCarthy, who was firing in goals from all angles.

The suspension of McCarthy in the final came back to haunt them, and that’s why Makhanya has lauded the depth at Mdaka’s disposal, given that there have been different scorers too.

“We were naive, but very confident. We had good leadership in Coach Shakes Mashaba,” Makhanya added.

“In terms of talent, this country has never been short. We won our semi-final against Ghana on penalties, and they won outright. So, they are better than us.

“They are a balanced team, and have more options than us. Our threat was Benni up front. So, when he was not there in the final, it showed.”