National U20 squad clobbers Alex outfit
ALEXANDRA - South Africa's U20 national squad has clobbered the Alex outfit United ladies Football Club by 18 goals to one in a friendly match.
South Africa’s national U20 women’s soccer squad clobbered Alexandra’s United Ladies Football Club by 18 goals to one in a friendly match in Edenvale on 8 January.
The match was part of the squad’s preparations for a crucial match against Nigeria in Lagos on 11 January. The Alex outfit received the invitation to play the squad and could not turn it down.
“We received the invite during our Christmas break, with all the players gone for the holidays, but could not turn it down as we had to do our national duty to assist our squad to prepare for the crucial match. I had to hastily assemble a squad together from the players that were available and had to seek the help of the other women’s teams in Alex in order to make up a decent team,” said United Ladies coach Malvin Khumalo.
The coach said he was not surprised by the scoreline, as they have been out of training for six weeks. “Our last competitive match was at the end of November when the team was involved in the regional play-offs at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria for qualification for the elite Sasol Women’s Football League. The fitness levels of my players was not good. They were flat and as a result they conceded one of the heaviest defeats ever,” Khumalo said, in defence of the scoreline.
However, Khumalo is confident of a good showing when the U20 squad comes back from Nigeria for a possible training match against his team again before the squad’s return leg match against Nigeria in two weeks time. “I will wait to hear from the squad coach if he will pick our team again for another match. If he does, I hope to give his squad a good run for their money.”
Prolific striker Zingawe Phakathi played for United Ladies as she was not picked for the Lagos-bound U20 national squad.
Meanwhile, United Ladies’ preparations for the maiden games in the Sasol League have just begun. Although they have not been informed of the start date for the league, Khumalo said he wanted to keep his players’ fitness levels very high. The league could start at the end of February or early March.
