FIFA Talent Coach Thabo Senong has laid claim to several Bafana Bafana stars, including Oswin Appollis and Lyle Foster.
Senong is a well-recognised figure in South Africa's youth football development, having previously held a role in the South African U-20 national team.
Read: Lorch Given 'Clearance' To Make Wydad Debut
Impressively, Senong guided the side to two CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, as well as two FIFA U-20 World Cups.
In Senong's last U-20 World Cup in 2019, South Africa were knocked out of the group stages by the Portugal U-20 team, which comprised the likes of Rafael Leão, Pedro Neto, Diogo Dalot, and Francisco Trincão.
The South African U-20 team, meanwhile, had future Bafana Bafana stars such as Appollis and Thabiso Monyane in their squad, while players like Siyabonga Ngezana, Teboho Mokoena, and Luther Singh also played under Senong in CAF and FIFA youth competitions.
Senong, who is now tasked with helping the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) with its youth development, has laid claim to some of the present Bafana Bafana stars who came through the ranks under his stewardship.
He told CAFOnline: "I was very fortunate to be part of leading youth football programmes in South Africa. I was part of the elite youth programmes such as Orlando Pirates' academy, Mamelodi Sundowns' academy, Diambars Academy and, of course, my biggest task was when I joined SAFA national teams to work as the national Under-17 assistant coach, Under-20 head coach, Under-23 assistant coach and the senior team (Bafana Bafana) assistant coach."
Senong added: "My personal objective as a coach was to help SAFA to reach its potential. My goal was to establish solid foundations for the senior team (Bafana Bafana).
"We had to recruit the right talents into the junior national teams, we needed to win the regional tournaments (COSAFA), which we won twice consecutively, we needed to be present at every CAF youth tournament and FIFA tournament.
"We did that successfully. Today, the senior national team of South Africa is reaping the rewards of the solid foundation we laid. Oswin Appollis, Lyle Foster, Teboho Mokoena, Aubrey [Modiba], etc., are our graduates."
Read: FCSB Confirms Ngezana's Injury Status
By Lukhanyo Mtuta
Follow him here on X
