Orlando Pirates defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi will become the centre of discussions in the next couple of weeks with decisions being made about him.
The issue at hand around Mbokazi is that does he travel with Amajita to the Under-20 World Cup in Chile or stay behind to focus on his duties at Pirates now that he has broken into the Bafana Bafana squad?
Since he only turns 20 this month, Mbokazi is eligible for the youth tournament due to run from September 27-October 19, which is open to players born from January 1, 2005, up to December 31, 2009.
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Amajita’s Group E matches will be against France (September 29), New Caledonia (October 2), and USA (October 5).
Should he travel with Amajita and they make it to the knockout stages, then he will have to miss Bafana’s camp in October for the last two World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
The Last 16 of the Under-20 competition will run from October 7-9 with the quarterfinals played on October 11-12, semi-finals set for October 15 and the final on October 19.
If Mbokazi travels with Amajita and they at least get into the Last 16, then he will also miss at least three games for the Soweto giants.
The 19-year-old only made his first-team debut in December at Bucs but has already grown to become a key player who has been wearing the armband of late in the absence of Nkosinathi Sibisi.
His Bafana career could get underway in this window with games against Lesotho and Nigeria coming and could culminate with a place at the AFCON finals in Morocco from December 21 to January 18.
Travelling to Chile will also be an opportunity to compete with his age mates on the global stage.
This week, Raymond Mdaka, the Amajita coach, responded to questions from the media about Mbokazi.
"We told ourselves that yes, we are without Mbokazi, but we are with him in spirit.
"I don’t want to comment that much for now and jinx things.
"We believe he can still form part of the final squad.
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"In fact, we have him on our list because he is one player that has grown with this team.
"And he has been part of the process that got us this far.
"So, I will not comment that much because he is currently with Bafana Bafana for the World Cup qualifiers.
"If he was not with Bafana, he was going to be with us," says Mdaka.
Photo: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images
