South Africa will begin their journey in the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations against Egypt at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Morocco on Monday evening.

Kick-off is at 22h00 CAT.

Amajimbos are in Group B alongside Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Egypt as the tournament runs from 30 March to 19 April.

The squad is dominated by eight Mamelodi Sundowns players, and five from Kaizer Chiefs. Notable inclusions are Emile Witbooi of Cape Town City, Chiefs’ Neo Bohloko and Selwyn Stevens of Sundowns.

Wydad Casablanca head coach Rulani Mokwena and his South African technical team have rallied behind the youngsters as they prepare for the youth continental competition.

U-17 head coach Vela Khumalo confirmed to SABC Sport that Mokwena organised a friendly for the team ahead of their opener against Egypt but also watched them play as they prepared in Casablanca.

Khumalo added that the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach’s support has motivated the boys for the AFCON.

“We have our own Rulani and his technical team who organised a friendly for us while we were still in South Africa, so we played last night,” Khumalo said.

“I was delighted to see even our players, Cassius [Mailula], [Thembinkosi] Lorch, they were all there to support us, they came together and we had good times together – they even promised to come and watch us on Monday.”

Khumalo explained that Mokwena arranged a match against Wydad’s U-19 team, which they narrowly lost 3-2.

Despite the defeat, they were pleased with their performance against older opponents and are now focused on their upcoming match against the Egyptians.