South Africa U-20 land in Cameroon without luggage

Amajita without most their luggage ahead of African Youth Championship qualifier against Cameroon.

The South Africa U-20 team arrived in Yaounde without most of their luggage - including playing kit - ahead of a 2015 African Youth Championship qualifier against Cameroon on Sunday.

Amajita, who flew via Nairobi, will face their hosts at Omnisports Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, with kick-off at 15h00 local time (16h00 SA time).

Team manager Ace Kika said: “It is a very bad situation because most of our luggage did not make it to Yaounde. Our clothes, training equipment like cones and medication are all held up in Nairobi.

“Fortunately the training kit we have is the one they used in Johannesburg so each kept his own. I am just happy that we went on the tour of West Africa so this should not disturb the boys mentally as our objective for that tour was to prepare the boys for such eventualities."

“At the moment we are at the mercy of Kenya Airways as to when our luggage will arrive. We are hopeful that we will have the kit ready for our match.”

Coach Shakes Mashaba added: “These things happen. As the manager was saying when we got the news about our bags I looked at my boys and found that they were not too worried, mainly due to the tour we undertook recently. We had some misfortunes on that tour like when we sat at the airport for hours on end, travelled long distances and this one in Yaounde is of a different kind but we will overcome."

“If only people would see me at the training session later today , I will be wearing my formal clothes that I travelled in from South Africa as there is nothing to change into. We cannot sit and fold our hands or put them on top of our heads and cry, life has to continue, the show must go on and that is the mental strength I see from these boys. Fortunately they have their boots in their personal bags so we must continue with preparations because the match is just under 72 hours away.”

The return leg will take place in Polokwane on 31 August.