14 July 2017 – After an intense three days of highly competitive and impressive displays from aspiring young girls, the first selection phase camp of the U17 Girls National Team concluded on Friday, 14 July.

The players are hoping to secure a place in the South African U17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana) that will be starting preparations to qualify for the 2018 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup set to take place in Uruguay from 20 November to 13 December.

The camp started on Wednesday (12 July) with a total of 36 girls selected from the recent SAFA talent search initiative that travelled to Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and North West.

The final day of the camp saw the technical team, headed by acting head coach Simphiwe Dludlu, take the girls through some tactics and a light recovery session to ensure that they go back to their clubs fully fit and injury free.

“This was a worthwhile initiative, this camp has given us an idea of who to pick when the time comes for the final squad selection. We are looking forward to the next pool of players after which then we will have a clear indication of what players we have to tackle the crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers. But the most important thing is that we had a very fruitful camp and saw some very exciting talent,” said Dludlu.

“There are of course a few positions that still need to be filled and hopefully we will find that special talent in the next camp. The girls were able to carry themselves even when we pushed them to the limit which is a good because that is what is needed at national team level.”

Next up is the talent search initiative which is headed for the Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Players identified from this project will be called up to the selection camp.

Dates to be confirmed in due course.

See what the coach had to say: