30 January 2020 — SAFA president Dr Danny Jordaan paid a special visit to South Africa’s National Under-20 Women’s team (Basetsana) that is currently in camp, to wish them well in their upcoming 2020 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifier against Zambia.
That preliminary round, second leg tie will take place this Saturday (1 February) at Orlando Stadium at 15h00.
Dr Jordaan, who flies out to Rabat, Morocco this evening for the upcoming CAF executive meeting, stated that he was truly impressed with how the national women’s juniors carried themselves in their first leg meeting, adding that it was now up to them to finish the job.
Basetsana won 2-0 with both Chelsea Daniels and Thubelihle Shamase scoring each goal in the first half of that encounter.
“Zambia is one of the nations which plays really well in the Southern region and you were able to beat them in their own backyard without conceding,” Jordaan said addressing the Basetsana players at Fun Valley this afternoon. “That was just a highlight of how really good you are and you now need to finish the job by making sure that you do well also in this return leg.”
Dr Jordaan also added that he had complete faith in this current group of players, adding they have all the potential in the world of qualifying for their first ever FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup tournament.
Basetsana coach, Jabulile Baloyi, stated that Dr Jordan’s visit was a pleasant surprise for the team, adding that she, her technical staff and players; felt truly honored to have been addressed by a man of his caliber.
“Having the president over to address the team was both inspiring and pretty special for all of us here,” Baloyi said. “He told us of how pleased he was with us, while also reminding us of the significance of the task which lies ahead.
“This team has never been to the FIFA U-20 World Cup and that is what we want to achieve with these group of players,” Baloyi added. “We want to see ourselves in Panama and Costa Rica for the upcoming 2020 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup; however, we will have to take it one game at a time.
“We will stop at nothing in fighting to achieve this goal.”