South Africa Women's National Under 17 coach Simphiwe Dludlu. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Following weeks of detailed scouting in search of a formidable South African national women’s Under-17 team, head coach Siphiwe Dludlu has managed to assemble a squad that will go on a quest to qualify for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in October.
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Dludlu was recently at the Sasol National League playoffs in KwaZulu-Natal in a quest to get the best possible players, having also attended the Pan African Schools Football Championships, the Hollywoodbets Super League and other girls’ tournaments held across the country.
The Bantwana mentor has had to build her team from scratch, with the previous players graduating to the Under-20. The team is currently in camp as they prepare to begin their qualifying journey against Kenya, with the first leg of the first round of the qualifiers set for the first week of March at home.
This is the second camp the junior national women’s team coach has called, with the first one having been held earlier this month and now she is confident with the players she has called up.
“We have called up a fairly new group of players from our last selection camp. It is always a challenge to build a national Under-17 team because players are still in the developmental phase and we are also sensitive to their schooling schedules. But we believe this group of players will be able to adapt to what is needed at national level,” said the Bantwana coach.
‘’We have travelled around the country in the past few weeks, watching different tournaments and ticking boxes on the criteria of the player we are looking for. We believe that the squad that we have selected will be the dawn of the next generation of Bantwana.”
The South Africans will then host the East Africans for the return leg on the weekend of 19 March 2022. The juniors girls tournament will be hosted in India in October.
