South Africa’s man of the moment, Raymond Mdaka, has lauded the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC) organisers following the country’s success in the CAF U20 Africa Cup of Nations.

The SA U20 side, Amajita, are the toast of the town after winning the tournament at the expense of the North Africans, Morocco, in a final played on Sunday.

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) Reserve League was founded in 2014, and while it has drawn both positive and negative reactions over the years, Mdaka is on the positive side and believes it is bearing fruit with Amajita now the Champions of Africa for the first time ever.

“Back home, we used to have interviews and said a number of players you see are the players playing in the DDC, and most of them were promoted to their senior teams after our (COSAFA Cup final) game in Mozambique (last year),” said Mdaka, as quoted by SABC Sport.

“That says a lot to the youth, that we seem to be getting there because that is the foundation of the senior national team (Bafana Bafana), and adding to that, our U17 team has qualified (for the FIFA U17 World Cup).

“It means we need to put more focus on the development again because that’s what can take us somewhere in terms of our football, and I again salute the DDC because it made it easy for us to be able to see players week in and week out and follow them.

“Because the country is so big, if it wasn’t for the DDC, we wouldn’t be able to see them—you couldn’t drive, perhaps, and make follow-ups on players, but through the DDC, we are able to do that, and as much as we won it, they’ve done a good job for the country.”