Few people remembers the Cape Town born player popularly known as "Kudu" when he turned professional with Hellenic as a 16 year old with the likes of Shaheem Bobbs and Peter Philander back in 1993.

Yet, the South African, who put up a sterling performance for the Wizards against Moroka Swallows at Mmabatho Stadium on Sunday, still recalls some of the country's best players whom he played with at u-23 level under the tutelage of Mitch D'Avray.

"I was in an u-23 squad that toured three countries in Europe during 1995," recalled Armstrong. "Baloyi and if my memory serves me well, Wayne Roberts as well were goalkeepers.

"Frankie Schoeman and Bobbs were in that touring squad as well, so was Naughty Mokoena and a certain player I only recall as "Mzambia" who was an aggressive type of striker.

"I remember we played out a 2-2 draw against Manchester United's reserves, then traveled to Holland where we set up camp at an Academy called Papendal. We even played against Vitesse Arnhem and they defeated us 3-1.

"What was ironic about that match was that one fellow - Solly Phetla - was 21 years if I recall correctly but did not make the national team, yet he featured for Vitesse and skinned us in that game."

It is amazing how Armstrong recalled every detail about that trip, where the foundations of South Africa's first ever-Olympic squad were laid at the tranquil Papendal retreat on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

"On the first day after our arrival in England, we stayed at a hotel where Southampton were camping for a match against Liverpool and Bruce Grobbelaar was their goalkeeper then.

"He was kind enough to give us a pep-talk when he realized that we came from South Africa and for eager youngsters from South Africa, his presence was a huge boost to speak to him considering what he had achieved abroad."

Armstrong, on hearing that Naughty Mokoena is now playing for Hellenic in Cape Town, expressed a wish to meet the former Moroka Swallows schemer and reminisce about the good old days when the Wizards play Ajax on Saturday.

Armstrong, who traveled to the United States on a four-year scholarship, was delighted that his American teammates were able to experience the vaunted, natural skills of the South Africans he often used to tell them about.

It seems they thought he was telling them tall tales about the vaunted skills of the locals, that is, until they met Moroka Swallows in the first match of the Nkosi Johnson Charity Cup on Sunday.

After meeting SuperSport United in the second match on Wednesday, they round up their programme with another match against Ajax in Cape Town and will no doubt go back to the land of Uncle Sam to tell fellow Americans about the amazing skills of South African players.