25 February 2020 – Head coach of the South African U-17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana), Simphiwe Dludlu, has urged her players to give only their best when they face Zambia in first leg of the 2020 FIFA U-17 World Cup qualifier scheduled for Friday, 28 February 2020.
The clash will be played at Nkoloma Stadium in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, at 15h00.
A few players who participated in the 2019 COSAFA Cup and won silver medals, make up the current squad, along with another group that will be earning their first ever international caps.
“We have a rather young squad of players and many of them have never travelled outside of the country – and that is going to be our first big task before we even play our match. We will be travelling to Zambia tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday, 26 February) and we hope to get the players settled and comfortable before we head out for training in the evening,”said Dludlu.
“We are having one on one sessions with the players, and trying to get them in the right frame of mind ahead of the game. We need to build them emotionally and mentally because as much as this is our first match of the year, we have a very hectic period ahead of us.”
The former Banyana Banyana captain says as it is always a challenge dealing with a new group, they have to hit the ground running to get to their goal.
“We understand the different pressures we have as a group dealing with players in school, some in matric and us trying to qualify for World Cup, but we believe that with good guidance, good work ethic and good football we can conquer all our dreams that are set out for this year,”concluded Dludlu.