Future of Bafana’s goalkeeping spot looks to be in safe hands

Prince Sobayeni, the scout who introduced Fletcher Lowe to newly crowned U20 Africa Cup of Nations champions Amajita, believes the 18-year-old goalkeeper is the natural successor to Bafana Bafana regular Ronwen Williams.

Lowe won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award for his excellent performance, conceding two goals in Amajita’s seven games and none in the knockout stage, where he was man of the match in SA’s 1-0 final win against Morocco in Cairo on Sunday.

Sobayeni, who works as a digital scout for the SA Football Association (Safa), sifting through internet analyses to find eligible players who have slipped under the radar, introduced the goalkeeper to SA U20 coach Raymond Mdaka.

“He seems like the natural successor to Ronwen. It’s football and you never know how things go — but if things go smoothly, he should be,” Sobayeni said.

“He’s young. Some of us are arguing now, why not put him as the Bafana Bafana third choice? Let him get that experience because we’ve already seen the quality.

“Bafana coach Hugo Broos has said there’s a goalkeeping crisis [in emerging players] in SA. He mentioned Fletcher, which means he’s on the coach’s radar.”

The scout was able to give more background on Lowe, who he said came through the ranks of the Ubuntu Football Academy in Cape Town.

“His parents moved to Portugal for work reasons and because he was a footballer  he joined a club called Oeiras, a club near where they were living [in Lisbon].

“He was scouted by a club called Alverca, the team that just gained promotion to the top division, though they were in the third division then.

“He was with their U17s, graduated to their U19s and then — it shows how good that boy is — he was doing so well for Alverca that Benfica came for him.

“He was there for a year then moved to Estoril at the beginning of this season. He is playing for their U23 and is their No 1 goalkeeper. He’s already been training with the first team.”

Sobayeni said he came across Lowe about three or four years ago.

“I was looking for a goalkeeper who could fit into the U17s of the last cycle for the 2023 [U17] Afcon. 

“I have monitored him and also, what a lot of people don’t know about what we do is sometimes it’s just to let the player know there is someone from SA who is watching them.

“He came to the camp before the Cosafa U20 Cup [in Mozambique in September 2024]. His name was submitted with a lot of other overseas-based players. Some couldn’t come for different reasons.

“He made the squad and he was goalkeeper of the tournament with zero goals conceded [in five games, where Amajita beat Zambia 2-0 in the final].”