Dludlu assembles Bantwana squad for World Cup qualifiers

South Africa national Under-17 women’s team coach Simphiwe Dludlu and her technical team are working around the clock in their quest to assemble a formidable Bantwana squad that will qualify for the Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup to be hosted in India in October.

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With most of her players having graduated to the Under-20 national team, the Bantwana coach is building the squad from scratch and she has called up 29 players for the training camp, beginning on Thursday until Monday.

Dludlu admits that it’s a mission to work with junior teams, but says they will start a program that will teach young players what it means to play for the national team ahead of the seventh edition of the junior women’s World Cup, which was postponed last year due to Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are looking forward to getting back on the pitch and building a team that will take us to the Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup in October this year. At this level of football, we are faced with many challenges as we always have to build a new team and navigate around the education of the various players. However, I believe we have a system that accommodates everyone’s’ needs,” said the Bantwana coach.

‘’We have called up 29 players for this weekend’s camp and we will have an intense but a fun  program for the players as we lay the foundation of what it takes to play for the national team.”

The five days camp for Bantwana will be followed by the second camp ahead of the first leg of the qualifiers against Kenya at home on 12 March, with the second leg scheduled for the weekend of 19 March 2022.

Bantwana have twice qualified for the global showpiece after competing at the 2010 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago and in Uruguay in 2018, where they were knocked out in the group stages at both editions.