South Africa U-23 Coach Ephrahim Shakes Mashaba has called up Kaizer Chiefs duo Mandla Masango and Thela Ngobeni for a three day camp starting on Friday and concluding in with a friendly game in Pretoria (Tshwane on Sunday).

Mashaba who is in his second stint as coach of the U-23’s was at the helm when South Africa’s U-23’s qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and famously beat Brazil during the tournament, is looking to use the camp to familiarize himself with the players and also to technically assist his players.

Masango, Ngobeni and 19 other players who will make up the 27 man squad called up for the three day camp were part of the South Africa U-20 squad who performed with distinction at the FIFA Under 20 World Cup tournament in Egypt last year.

After this camp, the coach will choose twenty players who will form part of the second mini-camp to be held the following weekend (30th July – 01 August) – and those players will form the base of the National Under 23 squad.

Amakhosi midfielder Mandla Masango is pleased to have been called up by Mashaba and is hoping to feature regularly for the team in the build up to the 2011 Africa Games and the qualification matches for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

“Getting a call up to this camp is the first step for Thela and I, thankfully we are in good shape as a result of us being hard at work in the pre-season preparation with Chiefs so it helps us for this camp. One of my dreams is to play in the Olympic Games and I will work as hard as I need to in order to ensure that we get to go to London in two years time”.