2 November 2018 – The South African national U17 women’s team Technical Advisor, Thabo Senong is impressed with the progress the team is making as they continue with the 2018 FIFA World Cup preparations at their temporary base, the Estadio Del Club Atletico Atenas, here in Uruguay.
Bantwana entered into their third day of training here and their first on a natural grass field was at the Estadio Del Club having had their previous two sessions on an artificial turf.
The girls looked sharp and in sync, something that made Senong to acknowledge with excitement.
Goalkeeper Leigh Brophy continued with her rehabilitation on the sidelines with some light training under the guidance of goalkeeper coach Monde Hlatshwayo as well as conditioning coach Minky Tshabalala.
The tough as teak no nonsense defender Lonathemba Mhlongo missed training as she was busy writing exams under the watchful eye of the team tutor Amukelani Palmer and to make numbers balance at training assistant coach Maud Khumalo took part in the 11-aside match.
“The coaching staff have done very well. This was our third training session, the girls are jelling very well and the team is looking really good. We still have more days to prepare so we just need to continue working on a few aspects of the game so that there are ready for the most important games. We have to play two friendly matches that will give us an idea on which areas we need to work on,” said Senong.
Senong who is the national U20 men’s team head coach also clarified his role in the Bantwana set-up. The Amajita coach has experience at this level having been to the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup in South Korea.
“My job as a technical advisor is a tough one because I don’t have to train the team but just support entire the coaching staff,” said Senong.
“I work closely with the performance analyst, get information about the opposition and try to give the head coach as much info as we can. Try to break down the strengths and weakness of the opposition. We also analyse our own games and training sessions. We also analyse the competition, look at where we are and also measure our performance, then have tactical discussions aimed at helping these players to perform,” added Senong.
Bantwana are set to kickoff the tournament on 13 November 2018 against Mexico and the match will broadcast on SuperSport.