22 February 2020 – The South African U-17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana) held two training sessions on Saturday (22 February 2020) ahead of their first round FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifier against Zambia, which will be played on Friday (28 February 2020) away.
Head Coach Simphiwe Dludlu is faced with what one would call a healthy headache due to the quality of players she has at her disposal.
Bantwana boasts of quality in all positions, but the 30 players will have to work harder to be selected for the final travelling squad.
Dludlu, whose ambition is to qualify for her second consecutive FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, has expressed her frustration on how she will trim her squad down to 20 players from the 30 players that are currently in the camp.
“We have identified what I believe is the future of the Women’s National Team. We have brought in some very talented, ambitious and intelligent players into this camp, and judging by the two sessions we had today, I believe the technical team is stuck with a massive headache,” said Dludlu.
“The players were taken through a very high intensity training sesssion in the morning, which we think was foreign to a lot of them, but the fact is we are going to demand a lot from them so they cope with the rigours of international competition.”
Bantwna have arranged for a practice session to help with the preparations for the crucial clash with Zambia.
“Our afternoon session was more technical because we have a practise match tomorrow (Sunday, 23 February). We are confident that this exercise will assist in selecting the players best suited to represent South Africa at this level, expecially for this upcoming assignment in Zambia,” explained Dludlu.
The final squad of 20 players for the opening qualifier will be announced before the team departs for Zambia on Wednesday, 26 February 2020.