Basetsana through to next round of World Cup qualifiers

Asanda Hadebe’s hat-trick saw Basetsana advance to the third round of the Women’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup qualifiers after edging Mozambique 3-2 in the second leg played at the Dobsonville Stadium on Friday. 

The end result saw the South Africans go through to the next stage with an aggregate score of 4-2 having won the first leg 1-0 away from home a fortnight ago. 

It was a tightly contested affair between the sides, which saw Mozambique levelling matters twice but Basetsana’s never die spirit saw them prevail. 

Basetsana attacker, Zethembiso Vilakazi got an opportunity to put South Africa in the lead on the eighth minute, but she was ruled offside.

And five minutes later, the hosts had a chance to celebrate as Asanda Hadebe opened the scoring from close range to put Basetsana in driving seat thanks to a Vilakazi pass. 

But, it didn’t take long for the visitors to get themselves back into the game as they got their equalizer thanks to Elsa Mulingandale in the 17^th minute. 

The Mozambicans put a lot of pressure on the home side, which saw Basetsana conceding a lot of corner-kicks, but they held themselves together. 

Instead, it was the combination of Vilakazi and Hadebe once again that did the magic for South Africa, with Vilakazi being the supplier again for Hadebe to put SA 2-1 up and bag a brace for herself in the 29^th minute. 

Mozambique responded once more and got their second equalizer to make it 2-2 going into half-time.

The first few minutes of the final half saw the two teams go hard in search of a third goal, but their attempts were fruitless. 

But the day was undoutedly for Hadebe as the striker registered a hat-trick to give Basetsana a 3-2 lead, enough to see the South African starlets through to the next round. Mozambique fought hard to get back into the match, but they just couldn’t.