This 22-year-old central defender’s stock has risen to meteoric heights over the last season-and-a-half. The former Kaizer Chiefs academy product went out on his own to Betway Premiership side TS Galaxy and enjoyed an excellent 2024-25 season before eventually catching the eye of current club Mamelodi Sundowns.
What immediately stands out about the South Africa international is his build and graceful movement. Ndamane always looks relaxed and has a strong combination of pace and physicality that catches the eye.
Another area where the young center back impresses is distribution. He distributes well with his left foot, preferring to strike long balls which he does with ease and accuracy when given space. When it comes to medium to long range distribution, Ndamane is already well advanced with his confidence.
But regarding his long-term prospects for a transfer abroad to play at a higher level, there are notable concerns. Most troubling is a clear lack of tenacity and intensity that has emerged in the CAF Champions League with Sundowns this season. Ndamane fails to utilize his physical advantages to their full extent and has plenty of room for improvement on aerial duels, all things he will need to develop quickly to maximize his high potential.
To begin our series of scouting reports on players involved in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation quarterfinals, we begin with Stade Malien left back Francis Awine.
Prior to his breakout 2025-26 season with Stade Malien, the 20-year-old Ghanaian fullback was little known. Developed at Benab Football Club, a third tier club based in Ghana’s Ashanti Region, Awine established himself as a reliable player before jetting off for Mali alongside two teammates.
From the obscurity of Ghana’s Division Two to the CAF Champions League, Awine is one of the great stories of the competition this season for a club that only allowed two goals in the competition’s group stage in a very competitive group. Awine played nearly every minute during the group stage after being an unused substitute throughout the qualifying stages.
So what kind of player is Awine? Based on the video, it is clear that the young defender is a player who is strong in many departments even if he is not spectacular in any particular area. What stands out most are his advanced intelligence and discipline.
Where he thrives most is on the defensive end. Strong when defending crosses on the far post, he picks the correct moments to intervene and keeps his calm when defending in transition situations. He has strong defensive vision, always keeping his head on a swivel to keep opposing attackers within reach while being eager to assist his teammates centrally.
These are very promising characteristics to have at a young age, especially considering this is his first season playing at a professional level.
In attack, Awine continues to develop with increasing confidence when getting forward. His crossing ability is strong but he still has to increase his ability on the ball so that he can be more of a threat on the dribble. The off ball movement is strong, which allows him to get into situations where he can cross the ball quickly without the need to run at defenders.
Cassius Mailula is a slippery and quick forward who continues to emerge as a rising star in South African football with top club Mamelodi Sundowns, exploding onto the DStv Premiership scene with seven goals in his first eleven league appearances. The 21-year-old can operate anywhere on the forward line whether he is playing out wide or more centrally. With excellent acceleration, advanced instincts off the ball for his age and the ability to finish with both feet, the Sundowns forward is a perfect fit to find pockets of space and goal scoring opportunities in a squad with high quality playmakers and passers.
Mailula’s rise indicates his excellent talent but there is still plenty for him to work on moving forward. A lack of quality and precision on his crosses and longer range passing limits his influence and role in attack buildups as well as a lack of patience. Mailula’s pace allows him to harass opposing defenders on the ball but his diminutive size and lack of strength means he rarely wins the ball up high, something he will need to develop further in a team that likes to press high and dominate their opponents.
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Cassius Mailula is a slippery and quick forward who continues to emerge as a rising star in South African football with top club Mamelodi Sundowns, exploding onto the DStv Premiership scene with seven goals in his first eleven league appearances. The 21-year-old can operate anywhere on the forward line whether he is playing out wide or more centrally. With excellent acceleration, advanced instincts off the ball for his age and the ability to finish with both feet, the Sundowns forward is a perfect fit to find pockets of space and goal scoring opportunities in a squad with high quality playmakers and passers.
Mailula’s rise indicates his excellent talent but there is still plenty for him to work on moving forward. A lack of quality and precision on his crosses and longer range passing limits his influence and role in attack buildups as well as a lack of patience. Mailula’s pace allows him to harass opposing defenders on the ball but his diminutive size and lack of strength means he rarely wins the ball up high, something he will need to develop further in a team that likes to press high and dominate their opponents.xxxx
Manu Duah is an intelligent and physically imposing central defensive player who can operate either as a defensive midfielder or central defender. The Ghana native spent his developmental years in southern California at Dunn School before playing for one year at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), after which he was drafted by current club San Diego FC as the number one overall pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft.
After playing 14 matches with UCSB as a defensive midfielder, Duah’s impressive size and reading of the game saw him shifted to a central defender role by San Diego coach Mikey Varas. Duah established himself as a regular contributor during the second half of the 2025 season as San Diego finished first place in the Western Conference.
What immediately stands out about Duah is his physical profile and pace, which allows him to thrive when defending in open spaces with notable tackles and displays against some of MLS’s best attackers. Duah also regularly shows positive signs of potential and the mental side of the game with his ability to anticipate situations with good positioning and sharp ability with short to medium range passing.
The primary weaknesses for Duah emerge due to his limited experience in a professional environment. Playing the ball under high pressure is an area where Duah struggles at times and his attempts at making long range passes are predictable and lack precision. Finally, Duah still has room to improve at fully utilizing his physical characteristics, particularly on aerial duels where he needs to be more organized and precise.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s.
Cassius Mailula is a slippery and quick forward who continues to emerge as a rising star in South African football with top club Mamelodi Sundowns, exploding onto the DStv Premiership scene with seven goals in his first eleven league appearances. The 21-year-old can operate anywhere on the forward line whether he is playing out wide or more centrally. With excellent acceleration, advanced instincts off the ball for his age and the ability to finish with both feet, the Sundowns forward is a perfect fit to find pockets of space and goal scoring opportunities in a squad with high quality playmakers and passers.
Mailula’s rise indicates his excellent talent but there is still plenty for him to work on moving forward. A lack of quality and precision on his crosses and longer range passing limits his influence and role in attack buildups as well as a lack of patience. Mailula’s pace allows him to harass opposing defenders on the ball but his diminutive size and lack of strength means he rarely wins the ball up high, something he will need to develop further in a team that likes to press high and dominate their opponents.xxxx