1 February 2024 – The South African U17 Women’s National Team arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in high spirits on Wednesday night, 31January 2024, ahead of their first leg of the2024 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifier.
Bantwana will take on Ethiopia in the away leg on Sunday, 4 February 2024, at the Abebe Bekilla Stadium, before heading back to Mzansi to prepare for the home leg on 10 February 2024.
Head Coach Nthabeleng “Dunga” Modiko is confident of her troops and believes they have what it takes to come home with a much-needed victory.
Speaking to www.safa.net, Modiko emphasized the importance of this encounter, their mission to qualify for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup and the inclusion of an extra player to the squad.
“We missed out on the last U17 World Cup with loses to Ethiopia, so we have a score to settle;” said Modiko.
“We are here to ensure that we give our best away from home to make the task a bit easier for us, when they travel to South Africa on 10 February 2024.“
The home leg will be played at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria.
“We believe we have a good squad, with some great potential. We as the Technical staff have done all the groundwork and it is up to the players now to implement everything we have worked on in training over the past two and a half weeks,” continued Modiko.
“We are also very grateful to the Association for allowing us to call up Nobahle Mdelwa from Spain.
“If you remember she was one of two players who were selected to join the La Liga Academy through a partnership with COSAFA last September. Unfortunately, we could not call up Sinazo Ntshota due to injury.
“Mdelwa arrived over the weekend, and her football journey has inspired all the other players to dig deep because she is a living example of what football can do for a young girl child.
“She has also been very impressive in training, and her development showed in the two practices matches we had, so we are very happy to have her in the squad.”
The South African U17 Women’s National Team will have another two days of training to polish their skills ahead of the Sunday encounter.