Bafana Bafana midfielder Ethan Brooks is hoping his side can continue their winning mentality in the Cosafa Cup as they prepare to defend their title against Mozambique on Wednesday evening.

The AmaZulu midfielder is included in the final 23-man squad announced by national team assistant coach Helman Mkhelele on Friday, which has been made up of U23 players to prepare the players for next year’s Olympic qualifiers.

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In a repeat of last year’s quarter-final fixture, Bafana Bafana will once again take on neighbours Mozambique in the last eight when they meet at the Princess Magogo Stadium on Wednesday.

Brooks is relishing the chance to participate in his second consecutive Cosafa Cup tournament and gain more experience representing the national team at this year’s tournament.

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“Last year’s tournament was a great experience for me [alongside] guys who were older than me,” Brooks told the Safa media team. “I got to learn a lot from them and from the tournament itself.

“Going into this one, I’ve got guys my age and it’s also going to be a great experience for them as well, learning a lot. We are going to play against guys much bigger and older than us, but it is going to be a great experience for us.

“I think we had a winning mentality last year,” he added. “From day one when we walked in, everyone knew what we wanted to achieve and that was wanting to win the tournament.

“I feel like that should be our mandate as well – to go into this tournament and defend our title by winning it.”