11 February 2020 – U17 Women’s National Team Head Coach, Simphiwe Dludlu has emphasised her ambition to guide the South African U-17 Women’s National Team, (Bantwana) to their second consecutive FIFA U-17 Women’s World, which will be hosted by India from 2 – 26 November 2020.
Bantwana have already played in two World Cups, back in 2010 and again in 2018 under the tutelage of former Banyana Banyana left-back Simphiwe Dludlu, and will be hoping to qualify for the third time when they begin their qualifiers for one of the four African spots, later this month against Zambia.
South Africa will face Zambia in the first round of two legs on 28 February 2020 (away) and will then welcome Zambia in the return leg on 14 March 2020. The winner of the two-legged matches will progress to the second round of qualifiers which will be played on May 2020.
“We are looking forward to a very busy year with the aim of reaching the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
“We have been very busy scouting the next generation of U-17 players and are very excited at some of the talent we have identified. We managed to find some players from the schools’ league, the Sasol League and SAFA Women’s National League,” said Dludlu.
“We begin our qualifiers against COSAFA counterparts Zambia, who are always a tough opponent. Our first camp will begin on 21 February 2020, where we will have an opportunity to bring in 30 players to have a look at before cutting the squad that will represent the country,” added Dludlu.
The tough- talking coach said she had learnt a lot during her initial stint in 2018 and was wiser going forward.
“We learnt a lot of things in the build-up to 2018 FIFA U-17 World Cup, and many more things at the actual tournament which was hosted by Uruguay and I believe that we are in a better position this year to prepare our players to be better, quicker and smarter,” concluded Dludlu.