South Africa u17…….(0)1

Zambia u17…….………(0)2

4 November 2020 – A last minute goal by Cindy Banda was enough to sink South African under-17 women’s national team in their opening encounter of the 2020 COSAFA Girls Championship at The Oval in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, 4 November 2020.

There were no goals in the first half but were lots of goalmouth action from both sides.

The second half saw coach Dludlu strengthen her attack by introducing the talented Nabeelah Galant who proved to be a super sub and got the first goal for South Africa in the 62nd minute capitalizing from a miscommunication mistake by Zambia.

However, the celebrations were short lived for Bantwana as Taonga Chulu levelled matters for Zambia in the 68th minute.

Both teams continued to defend in the second half with no real threats in goals until Cindy Banda scrambled home a last minute winner for Zambia after South African keeper Karabo Mohale had denied her twice.

Nduli Yolanda who was part of coach Dludlu’s squad that represented South Africa at the 2018 Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay put on a brave display and walked away as the player of the match.

Coach Simphiwe Dludlu had this to say: ‘’It was an open game and I think in the first half we could say maybe we had an upper hand. However, we were playing against the wind and we were trying to put the ball on the ground but it was not forthcoming because we were playing too far away from each other and we could not create enough opportunities. It was not easy to break them down.”

“It was a great game to start because you can only build from here,” said Dludlu.

Bantwana will be back in action against Zimbabwe on Friday 6 November with their eyes fixed on the title that eluded them in 2019.