South Africa U17 men’s national team coach Vela Khumalo has made an honest admission about a key attribute missing from the Amajimbos squad following his side’s elimination from the under-17 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON).

Amajimbos were sent packing by hosts Morocco after succumbing to a 3-1 defeat at Stade El Bachir, Mohammedia Stadium on Thursday. Neo Bohloko’s second-half equalizer wasn’t enough as Ziyad Baha put the game to bed with a two-minute brace after the hour mark.

Baha, who plies his trade in Europe at Real Betis’ youth team, adds to an influx of talented Moroccan youngsters playing abroad, including Abdellah Ouazane, who turns out for Ajax, and highly rated Ilies Belmokhtar of Monaco.

With the North African nation having called upon a host of players with international experience, the South African coach believes they retain a strong advantage over other teams in the continental showpiece, singling out Belmokhtar as the main player to watch out for.

“I think you [media] are spot on, Morocco having players from [abroad], international players, helps them a great deal. I think it’s number 11 [Belmokhtar] on the sides and that on its own helped them a lot,” said Khumalo.

“There was a moment where we thought it was 1-1, and when it was 1-1, I thought we would come and grab it, but they stepped up a little bit and they showed the experience of playing international football and they came to us.”

Khumalo went on to reveal plans to take a leaf out of Morocco’s book and search for players of South African descent playing abroad, suggesting that his team’s downfall was partly due to a lack of international experience – which he intends to inject into the squad going forward.

“It simply says to us that we [must] go out also before we go to the World Cup and look for players that are based overseas so that they can come and bring the experience in the team, ” added the Kroonstad-born tactician.

Despite missing out on continental glory, there’s a silver lining for Amajimbos as they booked their spot in the upcoming 48-team 2025 FIFA under-17 World Cup set to be hosted in Qatar from 5 to 27 November 2025 following a runners-up finish in the AFCON group stages.

This will be South Africa’s second appearance at the global tournament after making their debut in 2015 in Chile, where they crashed out in the group stages. A record 10 African nations will qualify for the competition in the Middle East.